More on Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Tanner Roark's role

It was a tough matinee for right fielder Bryce Harper in the series finale yesterday. A day after being praised for his patience at the plate, Harper fanned three straight times with wild cuts at Mets starter Matt Harvey's high heat.

"He swung at some balls out of the strike zone," said Nationals manager Matt Williams. "The strikeouts were balls up in the zone. With Matt, that ball comes in there pretty quickly. One of the keys against him is to make sure we swing at strikes. He got Harp a couple of times."

Harper struck out five times against the tough Mets starters in the series, but did manage four hits in 11 at-bats, including a solo homer in the opener.

Harper wasn't alone with his struggles at the plate. The Nats only managed six runs on 17 hits over the three games, and only three of those base knocks came in their 19 opportunities with runners in scoring position.

Williams has some theories, but not all the answers regarding his team's early offensive futility.

"I don't know. I think that if I had that figured out, boy we'd have a formula for it," Williams said. "But I think it's true that pitchers are ahead of hitters coming out. I think weather has something to do with it. Standing up there with a piece of wood in your hand and having it be 40 degrees and misting is not conducive to offense. It just isn't. And we're not alone here. There's teams playing on the East Coast that have dealt with cold and wind, so all of those things contribute to it.

"On the other side of that coin, it's really specialized these days. (Wednesday night) as an example, we've got a kid coming out of the bullpen in the eighth inning that's throwing 98 mph sinkers. I don't know a human in his right mind that enjoys that. So it's not easy. And so with that specialty in pitching comes a lack of offense sometimes, too. So it becomes really important and most important for us to take advantage of opportunities that we've got. So we hope to do that."

Despite his costly mistakes in the field, shortstop Ian Desmond was one of the few Nats to get his bat going in yesterday's game. After starting 0-for-7 with a couple of strikeouts in the first two games, Desmond doubled in his first at-bat against Harvey. He would add another two-bagger late in the game to go with a rare walk on a 2-for-3 afternoon.

"I really didn't feel bad the last two days. I hit a couple balls hard," Desmond said. "I'm actually pretty happy with where I'm at offensively at this point. Faced a couple tough pitchers over there the past three days, but keep on moving forward."

Finally, we got our first look at right-hander Tanner Roark in an unfamiliar situation yesterday. With the Nationals trailing 6-0, Williams called on Roark in the seventh inning for his first appearance out of the bullpen this season. He went on to pitch two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.

Coming in late in the game with your team trailing by a touchdown on a dark, dreary day doesn't seem to match the intensity Roark faced when starting 31 games for the Nationals last year. He compiled a 15-10 record with a sterling 2.85 ERA in 2014.

"Oh, for sure, it's definitely a different mindset, that I was trying to get through in spring training," Roark said. "You've got to come in there - I love using my fastball, so you've got to mix pitches well, you've got to show everything because you know once a reliever comes in, the hitter's in swing mode, or they want to swing because we're out there for a very short time. They're going to hit the best pitch that they see. So you've just got to mix it up and keep them guessing."

Roark's role this season remains unclear. Williams maintained Roark was training as a starter all spring while saying he could see him utilized as a long reliever or a late-inning setup man out of the bullpen.

"Still up in the air, I guess," Roark said. "I don't know for sure. But whenever that phone rings down in the bullpen, and my name's called, I'll be ready whenever, in what situation."