Despite another homer, Blanton feels he can find solution

The Nationals and Phillies battled to a 2-2 deadlock after seven innings. Philadelphia then got a two-run shot from César Hernández in the eighth inning to go ahead and eventually win 4-2.

Right-hander Joe Blanton (0-2) allowed the homer that changed the game.

It marked the third straight appearance that Blanton had surrendered a home run. He has now allowed seven hits in six appearances.

What does Blanton think is the problem?

"Just not executing," Blanton said. "I mean, let's see, two of them were sliders to righties. I just didn't execute. Then today, same thing. Tried to go up and in - not even really for a strike, I could care less if I threw a strike in that situation, certain count. Just didn't execute mechanically. I'm a touch off right now. The stuff doesn't play the way it should. You don't locate as well. Just trying to come back in the groove a little bit."

Manager Dusty Baker said he still needs time to study the video of the Hernández homer.

"I haven't seen it, (but) it had to catch the heart of the plate," Baker said. "It's been a matter of location because it's not that easy to hit home runs, even in batting practice. I hope that we get all these homers out of our system early. He had Freddy Galvis kind of eating out of his hand then he hit him in the foot that kind of got them started."

The bullpen troubles with the longball have been well-documented. In 11 games, Nationals relievers have now allowed 10 home runs.

Baker does not have a quick solution to the problem. Blanton and Shawn Kelley have each allowed three homers. Oliver Pérez, Enny Romero, Sammy Solis and Blake Treinen have allowed one apiece.

"There's no explanation, I mean it's been almost everybody," Baker said. "So a lot of them have been to these Phillies because we've played them quite a few times, so we just have to figure out how to make quality pitches.

"So we just have to go back to the drawing board and stay positive and stay confident and keep Joe and the rest of our bullpen positive. We're going to need them and these guys have quality backgrounds. But everybody's confidence waivers from time to time, so we just to keep confident in them and hopefully keep confident."

Blanton said he is trying to pinpoint what is going on with his slider and why he hasn't been able to locate it where it can't be turned on. Today, it was a four-seam fastball that he left over the plate. He knows all he needs is a slight mechanical tweak.

"It's frustrating because you know why it's happening," Blanton said. "You know you're not executing. You know it's mechanical. Sometimes things take a little longer. But at the same time, there's a positivity to it that it's something you can fix instead of, 'Wow, I feel good and I don't know what's happening.' That's a lost feeling, and I don't have that right now."

Does Blanton need to throw the pitch over and over in his bullpen sessions? Does he need to sit down and study video to find the issue? Having pitched for 11 seasons, he definitely knows what he has done in the past to find a solution.

"Trying to make the adjustments here and there and go through the checklist," Blanton said. "Sometimes it happens one outing and you go out the next outing and you're like, 'Oh, there it is. I figured it out.' Sometimes it might take three or four. Hopefully not. Trying to battle through that right now and figure it out sooner (rather) than later."

Blanton admitted he would have loved to figure out this problem when the games don't count. But it's in the regular season and he must fight through it. His best memory of a similar problem was last season with the Dodgers.

"Every year is a little bit different," Blanton said. "If you go back to your most recent - I go back to last year (when) I felt like when I was a little bit off. I could kind of feel it coming. I feel like all of a sudden, it just hit. It was like, what happened? It just completely went away. Sometimes it's about grinding through it. It's a long season. Everybody has those bouts here and there. That's mine right now. Hopefully, I can squash it and it doesn't come back, and if it does, maybe it's (for) a game.

"Sometimes, if you have this during the season, it can kind of help you. It's not ideal. Nobody wants to go out and give up home runs and lose games. But down the road, it makes you better. Makes the year better. Kind of corrects you for the rest of the year so you don't have to worry about it the rest of the time."