Scherzer again trying to figure out how to fix what ails him

Max Scherzer is annoyed, but he's not upset. He's not pitching the way he has and knows he can, but he doesn't believe he needs to completely overhaul everything to get himself back in form.

"Everything is not broke," the Nationals right-hander said following tonight's 4-3 loss to the Phillies. "This isn't a time where you just beat everything around and throw your glove around. The pitches are there. It's just a little fine-tuning. That's the difference between dominance and being average at this level. It can be that fine of a difference."

The difference, minor as it may be, is really noticeable right now. Scherzer does not look like the guy who threw two no-hitters and earned Cy Young Award votes last season.

After giving up three runs during six labored innings tonight, he now sports a 4.35 ERA, highest on the entire Nationals pitching staff by more than a full run. He has surrendered five home runs in 31 innings. He's walking 3.5 batters per nine innings, the highest rate of his career.

"I walked four guys tonight," he said. "That's just unacceptable."

So what exactly is going on with Scherzer right now? He insists it's not a physical problem, and his velocity readings (normal) would appear to confirm that he's not hurt. Mechanically, though, he's not right, and that's where the annoyance factor can set in.

Scherzer's simplest explanation for his struggles is this: He's not "finishing" his pitches, not getting the full extension after he releases the ball that he needs. This is mostly true when he throws fastballs, leading to poor command (either out of the zone or in a hitter-friendly part of the zone).

That may sound familiar because Scherzer offered up a similar refrain last week after a substandard outing in Miami. But he explained there was a slight difference this time around.

"In Miami, my top half wasn't finishing through the pitch," he said. "And tonight it was. So from a mechanical standpoint, my body's working. Now I just gotta get the arm to fire through the release point and get extension towards home plate. It looks like it's just cutting off a few inches, and those few inches matter."

Scherzer is something of a perfectionist, so things like this can drive him crazy. He also relishes the challenge, though, of making what he believes is still a minor fix as opposed to a major overhaul.

Thing is, he better figure it out soon because the soft portion of his (and the Nationals') schedule is just about over. Scherzer's next six starts currently are lined up against the Cardinals, Cubs, Tigers, Mets, Marlins and Cardinals again.

He also better figure out how to stop digging his team into early holes. The Nationals were down 2-0 tonight after only six pitches (a four-pitch walk to Odubel Herrera, followed by a two-run homer to Andres Blanco on one of those misplaced fastballs). He now has allowed eight first-inning runs in five starts, leaving him with a 14.40 ERA in the opening frame against a 2.42 ERA the rest of the time.

The byproduct of those ragged first innings: Scherzer's pitch count is soaring early, preventing him from pitching deeper into games. He has failed to reach the seventh inning three times in five starts, putting added strain on the Nationals bullpen.

"He wasn't sharp early," manager Dusty Baker said. "He had 100 pitches in six innings and that's kind of been his nemesis lately is just throwing a lot of pitches in a short period of time. We got to find a way to get him out there deeper in a game. He's our ace and our No. 1. We'll help him figure it out."

Scherzer has been through rough patches before - notably his late-summer swoon in 2015 - so he has the required confidence to get out of them. At the same time, he knows there's a fine line between confidence and simply assuming all will be made right again.

"You go through funks, and right now this is a funk," he said. "But at the end of the day, this is an easy thing to correct. This is just a minor tweak. You get through it. For me, I envision myself attacking the zone at a much higher rate next start. Is there something there? Yes. But at the same time, it's not something major that I need to worry about."