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Washington Nationals: Good, bad, and ugly from Dodgers series

By James Simmons

Juan Soto #22 of the Washington Nationals hits a two run homerun in front of Will Smith #16 of the Los Angeles Dodgers, his second homerun of the game, to trail 9-5, during the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium on April 10, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Juan Soto #22 of the Washington Nationals hits a two run homerun in front of Will Smith #16 of the Los Angeles Dodgers, his second homerun of the game, to trail 9-5, during the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium on April 10, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The Nationals will take a 1-5 record to St. Louis to open up a series with the Cardinals.
Patrick Corbin #46 reactsas Yan Gomes #10 and Ryan Zimmerman #11 come to the mound after an RBI double from Justin Turner #10 of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for a 6-1 lead, during the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium on April 10, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

The Bad

The offense. Five runs. Five runs? Four of those were meaningless runs after the team was already well behind to boot. The Nationals held the lead for all of 1.5 innings this series. Who were the offensive juggernauts a year ago? Soto and Turner. The team has four home runs this year, who has them? Soto and Turner. True, we are only six games in, but this offense is too good to have been shutout three times already on the year.

Tanner Rainey. After a breakout 2020 season where he struck out 14.2 batters per nine innings, some thought Rainey was ready for the closer’s role if not more high leverage situations. In two games this year he has surrendered two home runs and looks as if he hasn’t fully recovered from a muscle strain which limited him during spring training.

Bullpen usage. Ross was pulled early in game one because allegedly he wasn’t stretched out enough. First reliever in, gives up a run. In game three, Max Scherzer kept his team in the game for six innings before giving way to Rainey. First reliever in, gives up two runs. How often is Wander Suero going to be called upon this year? He’s pitched in 2/3 of the games so far. If you had overs on 120 appearances for him, you might cash it.

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