Nationals offense still wasting stellar pitching

Most of the sold out crowd at Nationals Park yesterday must have thought they were experiencing déjà vu. Though the stakes were nowhere near as high, the results were eerily similar to last year's National League Division Series. In fact you could have just cut and pasted a headline from last year's playoffs atop the opening day story: Nats pitching dazzles, while bats remain dormant.

The Nationals only produced nine runs and 26 hits in 45 innings of postseason baseball against the Giants last October. They lost three games of the series by one run, including the devastating 18-inning debacle in Game 2.

Nationals manager Matt Williams preached the need for situational hitting throughout the spring. The offense though was fairly anemic most of the Grapefruit League season, finishing with 123 runs, fourth-worst in baseball, while being shut out five times. Most observers don't spend too much time dissecting spring training statistics, considering lineups are filled with minor leaguers and toyed with every day. But it's worth noting, considering the emphasis placed on this Nats offense to produce, especially with the formidable pitching staff behind them.

Obviously, most will point to the rash of injuries the Nats are dealing with. Center fielder Denard Span (core muscle surgery), third baseman Anthony Rendon (left MCL sprain) and left fielder Jayson Werth (right shoulder surgery) are absent from the lineup - but more importantly, the top of the order, where they found themselves for most of last season and are responsible for generating offense.

"Any time you're missing your main guys, 1-2-3 hitters, you want to take advantage of opportunities, but we just need to continue to give ourselves those opportunities," Williams said. "Early on, in the first inning, we had a chance and didn't get it. But just keep putting pressure like that on the opposing team and we'll take our chances in that regard."

The Nats didn't have many opportunities against Mets starter Bartolo Colon and his Mets mates yesterday, but one came in the first inning. Center fielder Michael A. Taylor led off with the first of the Nats' four hits on the day. Third baseman Yunel Escobar then reached on an error, leaving runners at first and second with no outs and the beef of the Nats order heading to the plate. But the crafty Colon struck out right fielder Bryce Harper and first baseman Ryan Zimmerman before getting catcher Wilson Ramos to bounce out to quietly end the threat.

"The first inning, we had runners on at first and second with no outs and we couldn't get it done," said Harper. "That definitely backfired on us. I think we're a great team in the first, and if we get those runs across the board, it might be a little bit of a different game. But it's just part of how it is."

Harper provided the Nats' only run on a solo homer and also accounted for two of his team's four hits on the day. In addition, his first-inning strikeout was one of the Nats' 10 whiffs on the day.

Meanwhile, starter Max Scherzer's impressive debut at Nats Park was ruined. Understandably disappointed, Scherzer wasn't interested in allowing injuries to be an excuse for the lack of offense.

"It's never expected," he said. "I always expect the offense to score runs and let's win a ballgame. So it doesn't matter what starters are penciled in. I believe in the guys that can come up here and get the job done. That's why we're here. We're here to win and it's frustrating any time you don't win."

It doesn't get any easier for the Nats in the season's first series as they're scheduled to face reigning National League Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom on Wednesday night.