A three-game blip, or cause for real concern?
The Nationals insist they will bounce back from this series sweep at the hands of the Marlins and recapture the winning form they showed in May
Daylen Lile could only offer a wry smile when asked what he makes of the Marlins’ recent ownage of the Nationals, regardless of the state of both teams’ play against the rest of the baseball world.
“Kind of shake our head at it,” the outfielder said. “It’s like they play their best baseball against us, and we usually don’t play our best against them.”
That’s an understatement. The Nats entered June feeling as good about themselves as they have in a long time. They won 16 games in May, their best month in nearly three years and one of their best months since the infamous summer of 2021.
Then they went and got swept by Miami, a sub-.500 club that basically pushed around the previously above-.500 Nationals for three days. And this, of course, was on the heels of another series lost at loanDepot Park less than a month ago. The Nats are now 1-4 against Miami, 15-8 against everyone else in the last month.
“Miami came in, and they punched us in the mouth,” manager Blake Butera said. “I think it’s up to us to go into this day off, use it to reset and flush it and be ready to go in Arizona on Friday.”
