Ryan Zimmerman isn't worried about Nats' slow start

BOSTON - After watching his team blow a three-run lead, Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman came a few feet away from tying it back up when he yanked a fastball off Red Sox closer Koji Uehara that sailed past the wrong side of Fenway Park's famous left field foul pole.

"I thought it was going to be way, way foul when I first hit it, but it kind of stayed true," said Zimmerman. "It made it closer, but I knew. Just standing there from home plate, I was pretty confident it was foul."

Zimmerman would eventually line out to left and Nats would go on to lose 8-7 Tuesday night for their sixth loss in eight tries in the young season.

"We've had a bad eight games," said Zimmerman. "We've played bad. We gave the other team too many outs. That's what's killing us. So it's no surprise. We just need to play better defense. As bad as we've played, we've been in pretty much every single game besides one or two and really had a chance to win every single game besides one or two. So we obviously need to clean up our defense, catch the ball, not give the other team extra outs. But it's eight games into the season."

The 11-year veteran doesn't feel like the hype surrounding the Nationals leading up to the season is affecting the way the team is playing.

"I mean, you guys are the ones that expect stuff," said Zimmerman. "We expect stuff every year. I don't think that's what bothers us. We've kind of had that for the last two or three years now. I just don't think we're playing good baseball. That's why we're losing."

"Baseball's hard. It's a hard game. Just because people say you're good or just because you have good players doesn't mean you win. You have to go out and play a solid nine innings and 27 outs. And if not, the other team's probably going to beat you."

Zimmerman was asked if some of the younger players on the team are able to handle the lofty expectations with the same approach.

"You'd have to ask them that, but that's why we're here to try to tell them that," he said. "Nobody's ever won anything in eight games or lost anything in eight games. Nobody's really ever won anything in the first 25 or 50 games. So, obviously, (the season) is really young, but the bottom line is we just need to play better."