Matt of Matt's Bats: Despite issues in field and at plate, Nats should come around

The Nationals have played seven games so far and have an unimpressive record of 2-5. When everyone is excited for baseball season to begin and expectations are so high that this team could win the division and even go to the World Series, it's disappointing that there have been so many sloppy plays and bad losses. However, there are also bright spots that people may not be noticing.

Let's start by looking at what's going wrong, because that's what people are talking about. If Ian Desmond could start the season over, he probably would. He has been making a lot of errors on the field and has been pretty bad at the plate, too. He has four errors so far this season, but only three hits to his name, not to mention five strikeouts. However, Desmond was a Gold Glove Award finalist in 2013 and three-time Silver Slugger winner. He usually starts the season slow, but this is a little unusual for him.

Don't blame Desmond for everything that is going wrong, because he is not the only player making errors. Yesterday in Boston, we saw some rookie mistakes made by Michael A. Taylor letting fly balls drop. The story is pretty bad at the plate, too: the team has 56 strikeouts in seven games. Bryce Harper and Taylor both have double-digit strikeouts, followed by Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond.

The bullpen has been a little disappointing. In a few games, they've allowed costly late-inning runs to score. The starting rotation's team ERA looks good at 1.91, but that doesn't factor in a lot of the unearned runs that scored due to errors. And one thing I noticed on opening day, which was the first time I saw Max Scherzer pitch in person, is that his pickoff move is slower than a sloth. With the exception of Jordan Zimmermann's 2 1/3-inning outing in Boston on Monday, the pitching has been as good as advertised. So I think the problem is with the fielding and batting.

But I don't want you to think I am worried about the team. I am confident that the team will progress from here and become much better. A really good sign is that Jayson Werth came back yesterday in Boston. There also have been some reports about Denard Span and Anthony Rendon coming back soon. They need the hitting help from these veterans. Other than the strikeouts, power hitters Harper and Zimmerman are doing fine, and Wilson Ramos and Danny Espinosa also have home runs. My favorite stat is that Yunel Escobar hasn't struck out yet in 27 at bats. They just need to get timely hits with runners on base.

I still think the Nats are likely to win the 2015 National League East, and fans of the team shouldn't just give up on the team after seven games. Some of the errors have been frustrating, but there are more than 150 games left here in 2015. After their first week of play, the Nats were 1-4. I did some research and discovered that three World Series-winning teams in the past 30 years started their first five games with a record of 1-4: the 2012 San Francisco Giants, the 1998 New York Yankees, and the 1985 Kansas City Royals. The 2008 Phillies, one of the best teams in recent baseball history, started the season 2-4, just like these Nationals, and ended up winning 92 games and a World Series trophy.

I don't think there is any need for Nats fans to worry about this team yet. But if they're still playing like this in June, Mike Rizzo will have to send everyone back down to the minors! The good news is they continue playing teams with sub-.500 records until they square off against the Cardinals next Tuesday. That will give them some time to play better baseball and get back some of their injured veterans. If it makes you feel better, the Nats are only four games out of first place with 155 games left to play.

Ten-year-old Matt blogs about the Nationals at Matt's Bats. Follow him on Twitter: @MattsBats. He shares his views weekly as part of MASNsports.com's initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.