Steve Mears: Monday's Nats win paid homage to another skipper's philosophy

The Nationals got a big look at the in-game management style of Joe Maddon earlier in the month in Chicago where they played a four-game series.

Maddon also has many philosophies that he shares as the manager of the Chicago Cubs, and his 'Try
Not To Suck' advice might have started as a joke, but it is at the core of one of Maddon's core principles that if you are going to 'suck' at one part of your game you had better find other ways to help your team win.

Maddon turned the 'Try Not To Suck' slogan into a t-shirt that is being sold for charity. When Maddon coined the phrase, it was advice that he jokingly gave to Javier Baez after Baez was called up to the Majors.

Many managers might not say it as eloquently (insert sarcasm) as Maddon to 'Try Not To Suck' to their players, but the message has a strong foundation that struggling players can find a way to make a positive impact, whether it's running the bases or playing defense or being a helping hand on the bench or in the batting cage or wherever.

The Nats won Monday night's game in Philadelphia because some of the struggling players had other ways of impacting the outcome of the game without getting a hit.

In the sixth inning, Ryan Howard smoked a ball in the right-centerfield gap and Ben Revere dove for the ball near the scoreboard and robbed Howard who was around second base at the point he discovered Revere caught the ball. In the next inning, Revere worked the count off of Hector Neris and earned a walk and eventually scored on Daniel Murphy's single in the eighth inning.

Danny Espinosa walked in the eighth inning and stole second base. Like Revere, Espinosa was hitless in the game and batting under .200, and he used his legs to help the Washington Nationals win. Chris Heisey was another player who drew a key walk in the eighth inning to load the bases ahead of Murphy's double. Those are three players who showed three different ways they helped the Nationals win without getting a hit.

Dusty Baker is also a philosophical man, and he would not steal Maddon's 'Try Not To Suck' slogan, but you can bet Dusty has his own thoughts on what each player can do to try to help the Nats win. It's the small things sometimes that have the biggest impact.

Steve Mears blogs about the Nationals for Talk Nats. Follow the blog on Twitter: @TalkNats2. His thoughts on the Nationals will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. 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.