Rendon's Throw Knocks Storen Down Again, Nats Season Slipping Away

On Wednesday night the Nationals former closer (and semi-current 8th inning "setup man...now seemingly demoted again to 8th inning matchup guy) Drew Storen gave up another 2 runs thanks to a horrible throwing error by Anthony Rendon. The season is starting to slip away from Matt Williams and the Nationals, now 3 1/2 games out of first place behind the Mets.

The killer play took place in the bottom of the 8th inning when Rendon cut off a Bryce Harper throw to the infield on a double (runner on 3rd) and proceeded to make a rushed & unnecessary throw that went into the stands allowing both runners to score on the play (including the batter). While the Nats were down 1-0 and could barely hit the ball, probably going to lose anyway, it was a crushing blow to their confidence and a microcosm of the state of the baseball team at this moment.

Yunel Escobar could not believe it and as he watched the ball head into the crowd he shouted out what appeared to be "Oh my god! Oh my god!".  He was completely shocked that something like this could happen to the Nats once again.

Drew Storen, who has now given up 8 runs in his past 3 appearances, got one more batter out in the 8th and was pulled before the end of the inning for a lefty/lefty matchup with Matt Thornton. It appears that Williams is now going to play matchup baseball in the 8th innings to come which is a dagger to Mike Rizzo's plans. Nats new closer Jonathan Papelbon can't even get into a ballgame and Storen has lost his confidence.

Storen looked like he didn't care anymore after getting the 2nd out of the inning just before getting pulled. The Nationals are looking like a complete mess right now. They have lost 6 out of 10 games and they appear to be lacking any fire whatsoever.  Meanwhile the Mets are taking care of business. There are plenty of games left but at some point something has to change.