Matt Williams hopes meeting steers Nationals in right direction
Following a slide that has seen his team drop five of six games, Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams plans to address his players prior to Thursday's matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Washington has struggled since the All-Star break, going 7-12, and has seen a three-game lead atop the NL East turn into a two-game deficit in a span of six days.
“Can it galvanize? Yeah, we hope so,” Williams said following Wednesday's 11-4 drubbing by the Diamondbacks. “That’ll be the message (Thursday), for sure. We’ve got a limited number of games left, and we’ve got to play well if we’re going to get to where we want to go. That includes everybody."
The New York Mets have surged past the Nationals with a six-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of Washington over the weekend. Still, the Nationals have maintained their bravado during the slump.
Bryce Harper said he doesn't "give a crap" about the Mets and fellow outfielder Jayson Werth proclaimed the NL East is "our division to lose" while also noting that Washington is "a great second-half team.”
The latter point made by Werth is backed up by the numbers. The Nationals own a winning percentage of better than .600 in August and September in each of the past three seasons.
"Our team, we’re very good, and everybody knows that," Harper said. "Hopefully we can keep grinding it and keep doing it and have a positive attitude every single day."
(h/t CSNWashington.com)
Every year is different, but ... #Nats winning percentages in Aug-Sept the last 3 years: 2012: .617 2013: .630 2014: .679
— Mark Zuckerman (@ZuckermanCSN) August 6, 2015
Jayson Werth: "It's our division to lose." pic.twitter.com/gDVEFFeKxd
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) August 5, 2015
