A Bad Week For The Nationals Rotation

I'm sure the Nationals starting pitchers can't wait to put this week behind them. They've pretty much been taken to the cleaners. At the beginning of the season, the starters were surprisingly effective and the Nationals rode their rotation to a promising 20-15 start. They've struggled mightily since then, with this past week's 1-5 road trip being the lowest point so far. Here are some numbers that show just how bad it's been.

Over the last 7 days:

• The Nationals' starting rotation has posted an ERA of 6.61. That's only good enough for 29th in the major leagues.
• The team's starters have combined to pitch 49.0 total innings. Only the starting rotation of 1 other team (the struggling Toronto Blue Jays) have combined for less total innings pitched.
• The Nationals have allowed the second-most runs in baseball, surrendering 41 runs (36 of them earned). The only team that has given up more is the Houston Astros. 
• The starters are second to last in striking out opposing batters, and those opposing batters are batting .368 against the Nationals. The Nationals starters also own the major league's worst WHIP number: 1.69 .

Watching the pitchers, it's not hard to believe those stats. John Lannan's sinker isn't sinking, and he's not getting his trademark groundouts with any sort of regularity. Livan Hernandez struggled with his command in an abnormally ineffective appearance. And Luis Atilano continues to get too much of the plate in his pitches, resulting in him giving up a lot of hits (including 19 in the team's recent loss to the Detroit Tigers). Even Stephen Strasburg walked 5 batters in his appearance against the Indians. If the Nationals hope to have even a merely acceptable season, their starting pitchers are going to have find their rhythm again, quickly.