Rachel Levitin: Pinpointing the Nationals' problem

The Nationals are 58 games into this season, and it's not the Marlins, Mets, Cubs or even the Yankees who remain their toughest foe. As it turns out, they may be their own worst enemy.

Though the Nationals have managed to find a groove and settle into first place in the National League East so far this season, they've dropped a game behind the Mets to second place in the division with their 6-1 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday night. It's June 10 and the All-Star break is nearly a month away. The troubles facing the Nats are internal and not external in nature. The individual recovery time of players coming back from time on the disabled list is going to contribute to whether or not the Nats find themselves back in first place.

All the shuffling around has caused a bit of commotion. Players have been doing their part to help manager Matt Williams fill out the day-to-day lineup, but injuries continue to plague any groove the Nats seem to settle into.

Infielder Anthony Rendon is back in the lineup, but the flow of the previously cohesive 2015 Nats lineup is awry with outfielder Jayson Werth down for the count and a not-so-strong offensive platoon manning left field. It hasn't helped that short stop Ian Desmond committed his 14th error of the season on Tuesday night against the Yankees.

It's these scenarios that test ballclubs each season and it's these scenarios that encourage teams to rise up against the setbacks in an effort to make it to October.

The Nationals are fully capable of making another run at a playoff berth. Whether that's a division title or wild card position remains to be seen, especially within the NL East. But will they overcome a rotation of injuries and musical chairs in the field to make it there?

Rachel Levitin blogs about the Nationals for District Sports Page. Follow her on Twitter: @RHLevitin. She will be sharing her observations about baseball in the nation's capital as part of MASNsports.com's season-long 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.