Davey Martinez’s team was hitless in seven at-bats with seven runners left in scoring position and lost 5-0. Cubs The Nationals suffered their third loss in four games on the road Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field in Chicago in their final game of the season. The Washington Nationals finished their 24-year road season with a 33-48 record and will now play six games at home, including three against the Kansas City Royals.As of Sunday night, they were tied for second place in the American League wild card standings.) and the National League East Division leader Philadelphia Phillies(They’ve already clinched a postseason berth and are 5.0 games ahead of the division.).
“I want these guys to play for something,” Martinez said of finishing a schedule against two playoff favorites.
“I mean, believe it or not, [are] “A lot of decisions have to be made over the winter,” the captain continued.
“I want these people to embarrass me. [GM Mike Rizzo]”So I think we should get in touch with the front office and see what we have. I hope they finish strong.”
They’re 8-12 this month and 1-6 on their previous trip, losing four of their seven games by shutout and scoring just one run in the three games in that stretch.
Martinez said the focus now is on evaluating what they have while trying to finish strong at the end of a long season.
“It’s all about mentality at this time of year. There’s a lot going on. The players are getting closer to going home,” he said, “and they’re getting closer to playing in the winter games, but there are still games left, so I want the players to stay strong until the end.”
When asked what his hitters need to do to reverse the current trend and post strong performances in the six games remaining, Martinez said they need to stop chasing — a message he and his coaches stress to their young team daily.
“There were some innings where we could have scored runs,” he explained.
“We just weren’t scoring runs. The biggest thing is we’ve got to get better at scoring runs, attacking the strike zone, staying in the strike zone. We’re just going to start chasing. We’re really going to start chasing a lot of balls. Like I always say, we can get the ball in the zone and hit it pretty well, but in those moments we’ve got to stop chasing and make the pitchers feel like they have to struggle. We’re young. We’re going to get better.”
“That’s part of the instruction where we have to tell our guys, ‘You’ve got to throw the ball into the zone when you have guys on base.’
“Don’t put pressure on yourself. Don’t go up to bat and try to swing at the first pitch, just go for a strike.”
How can his team more effectively implement the advice given to them?
“We can’t just swing for them,” Martinez said. “We just have to get the message across and tell them. We have to show them the zone, show them the zone that they’re really good at. They’ve got to stay in the zone, they’ve got to understand who they are. And a lot of times, because they’re young, they always want to be the main guy. When they pressure us, we have to get them back in the zone and tell them, ‘Hey, you guys are going to look for the ball here and when the ball is here, you’re going to shoot the ball really well.'”