Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Before this week’s Yankees/Nationals series, the Nats held an all-time advantage of 15-14 in their head-to-head matchups, and a 7-6 lead in Yankee Stadium. There were some epic games in the past, including the 2006 Father’s Day walk-off by Ryan Zimmerman.

The Washington Nationals were flying high in Philadelphia last week after they beat closer Jhoan Duran and had a winning 8-7 record in that 15-game stretch. Then the Nats fell into a 5-game losing streak where all of those good feelings of hope just got crushed. Yankee Stadium became a house of horrors.

We saw starter Cade Cavalli give up 7-earnies yesterday, and now you have to wonder, was it a mirage or just one bad outing? His ERA ballooned from 2.82 to 5.11 in the span of 2 1/3 innings of exasperation. What exactly happened besides a Yankee Stadium Home Run Derby breaking out? Was Cavalli tipping pitches? MASN TV analyst Kevin Frandsen believed that Cavalli was tipping pitches. It would explain his issues in that third inning that the Yankees picked up on something during the first two innings. Let’s see how Cavalli looks against the Marlins next week.

For Cavalli, you hope his first 4-games this season were the pitcher he is — not what you saw yesterday. The ups and downs of being a fan are tough, and the media can pile on. Recency bias works both ways. Last Friday you’re ecstatic, and yesterday you’re erratic. Totally understandable. At least we had no visions of grandeur like Orioles’ fans that our Nats were going to win the division this year! Nah, we expected 74-wins, and the team is now on pace for 64.6 wins. That is a 10-win swing in the wrong direction.

With just 29-games remaining in this season, the Nats only have two more series against teams with winning records: The Cubs and the Mets. But even Tampa this weekend at 5-games under .500 won’t be easy. Avoiding 100-losses for the Nationals has to be a small consolation prize on a disappointing season.

Part of the issue is a lack of energy and hustle by some players. On Tuesday, the team’s best statistical player, James Wood, pulled up on a ball heading towards the left field line, and the ball off of Cody Bellinger‘s bat dropped in for a gifted double on starter MacKenzie Gore‘s record. Per Thomas Nestico’s catch probability tracker, that ball had a 99 percent catch rate. Wood’s defense on Statcast is the worst on the team in the month of August at a -2.0 OAA. Disappointing.

We’ve seen with our own eyes that Wood isn’t always running hard on ground balls, and to see him not go hard after a ball in the air on defense directly affected his pitcher and teammates. He isn’t the only one as we saw dogging it. Luis Garcia Jr. went on a slow jog yesterday on a ground ball.

Yes, it’s a long season that you get paid a lot of money to play. Fortunately, some players are still playing like the games mean something. Yesterday, in a huge deficit, there was Jacob Young crashing into the outfield wall, and Brady House tumbling into the side wall on a foul ball showed that other players are sacrificing their bodies for this team. Dylan Crews is another who plays hard on every play.

There is certainly a coaching issue on this team. Expect a lot of turnover after the season ends. My suggestions are to bring in Skip Schumaker for manager. Kevin Long for bench coach. Chris Hook for pitching coach. David Popkins for hitting coach. Daniel Murphy for asst. hitting coach. Robin Lund for asst. pitching coach. Adam Eaton for 3rd base coach. Selwyn Young for 1st base coach. Wilson Ramos as bullpen coach. Maybe the Nats get lucky, and Erik Neander would take the GM’s job.

You have to change from the top down, and yes, the Lerner ownership group isn’t firing themselves, and their share of the blame is certainly recognized. They have allowed the negativity to fester, and most of that centers around the team payroll in the bottom-third of baseball when they at least need to be in the middle. This team needs at least one long-term acquisition this offseason to set the right tone. That is a commitment. It starts there.

While Friday’s game has Mitchell Parker scheduled to be on the mound, you just have to hope that the Nationals can find a way to win.