Depleted lineup is suddenly a shell of itself
With James Wood on the IL and Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead playing for other teams, the remaining Nationals hitters are in a major slump
PHILADELPHIA – What happens when the highest-scoring lineup in baseball trades away its best right-handed hitter, then the NL’s leader in slugging percentage, then loses one of the best offensive players in the sport to injury?
Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park is what happens.
The Nationals were already reeling before taking the field for the second of four games against the Phillies. Mired in their longest losing streak of the season, they had seen their previously unflappable lineup go ice cold over the weekend in Atlanta. Of course the trades of Curtis Mead and Luis García Jr. played a role in that, but they still had the dynamic duo of James Wood and CJ Abrams, plus several other hitters who have made significant strides this year.
But once they had to remove Wood from that lineup, a mild left oblique strain having landed the All-Star right fielder on the 10-day IL for the first time in his career, they knew just how daunting this task was about to become. Even if they didn’t want to have to publicly admit it.
