To make playoffs, Nats have to do something they've never done

Davey Martinez praised the Nationals for the effort they displayed during Monday night's 4-3 loss to the Red Sox, right down to Anthony Rendon's scorched line out to left field for the final out in the bottom of the ninth.

"If they keep playing with that kind of intensity, we'll start winning games," the rookie manager said. "Things will turn around for us. Think about it, the last ball hit was smoked. I think it was 111 mph off the bat (actually 105 mph). So I got no problem with the way they played."

Put Monday's game in a vacuum, and Martinez's assessment is appropriate. The Nationals indeed played a tough game against a tough opponent and just barely lost.

Trouble is, you can't put this game in a vacuum. You have to put it into the larger picture of a season that is now more than 50 percent complete. And this game bore some striking resemblances to many that have come before it.

The Nationals' last five losses have all come by one run. They've lost 16 one-run games this season, most in the National League.

So the question, then, is whether this is reason to be encouraged (because they're close to breaking through) or discouraged (because they consistently don't do enough little things right to win these games)?

Leave it to Max Scherzer to provide the best perspective on the situation.

"Honestly, it's probably both," the ace said. "If you only look at the bad, nothing ever comes good out of it. If you always want to just continue to beat yourself up and just go home at night always thinking about bad - all the bad plays, all the mistakes you make - you'll never become a better player. This is where the test is, that even when things aren't going your way, when things are bleak, when we haven't been playing great baseball, you have to find a way to take and find certain things you are doing well and just try to build off those. That's just what the whole team has to do.

"Look, we're not playing our best baseball right now. It's obvious. But at the end of the day, you do have to take solace in how you're going out there and doing the things well. I think that's what Davey's trying to allude to: 'Hey, look, we did bring some intensity today. We grinded, we played tough. We fell one run short.' As much as we can reflect upon kind of our failures, we can also reflect upon some of the things that we are doing well, and hopefully that will turn."

Time is running out for the Nationals to turn it around, though. They're now 42-41, seven games back in the National League East.

The only times they've been seven games back since 2012 were in 2013 and 2015. Those are the only two seasons during this era they failed to make the playoffs.

"Just got to win ballgames," Bryce Harper said. "You've got to go out there and have the mentality as a team to go out there and pull the same rope, and I think we've been doing that. I think we've been having good at-bats here and there, and the pitching staff has been pretty good as well. Keep going out there, keep staying within ourselves and being the team we are. And, it's July 2."

Yes, but here's the problem. On July 2, 2013, the Nationals were 42-41 and seven games out of first place. They proceeded to fall as low as six games under .500 in early August, and though they got hot late, it was too late. They finished 86-76, four games out of the wild card race.

The margin for error has become razor-thin. If the Nats are going to turn this around, it's going to have to happen soon. And it's not going to be easy.

"Maybe that's what we're supposed to do every year, is grind," Rendon said. "I mean, it's worked in years past, or however you want to look at it. If you don't grind in a 162-game season, I want to play that season."

Truth be told, the Nationals didn't have to grind much in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017. They were never more than four games back in any of those division-title-winning seasons (and when they did trail by four games in 2014, it was still April).

The only two times during this stretch of baseball success in D.C. in which the Nationals had to make up ground over the summer and into the fall, they weren't able to do it.

In other words: It's going to require something we've yet to see around here for them to make the playoffs in 2018.