Dave Martinez defends coaching staff as sputtering Nationals’ losing streak reaches seven
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez bristled Saturday when asked how much of his team’s recent offensive struggles should be apportioned between players and his coaches after the 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.
“It’s never on coaching,” Martinez said. “Never on coaching. Coaches work their (butts) off every single day. We’re not going to fingerpoint here and say it’s coaches. It’s never on the coaches. They work hard. The message is clear. All the work is done prior. So, sometimes, they have to go out there and play the game. It’s always been about the players. Always.”
The Nationals have lost seven in a row, tied for their longest skid of the season. They’ve averaged 2.5 runs while going 2-10 in June and are a season-high 10 games under .500 at 30-40, two games ahead of the last-place Marlins in the NL East.
Martinez led Washington to its first World Series title in 2019, but the Nationals struggled to a 26-34 record in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The club began a rebuild at the trade deadline in 2021, and has not finished higher than fourth in the division in the last five years.
Martinez is 493-609 in eight seasons.
“I played this game a long time,” Martinez said. “Never once have I blamed a coach for anything. We worked our (butts) off to get better, they gave us information and we used it. These guys understand what the game is, man. I never had a such a group of coaches that work as hard as they do.”
Washington’s offensive issues have been particularly acute this month. The Nationals rank last in the majors in runs (30), walks (23), on-base percentage (.267) and slugging percentage (.304) in June and are 29th in both home runs (six) and batting average (.216) over the last two weeks. They have scored more than three runs in a game only twice this month.
The Nationals went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position Saturday, including Amed Rosario’s flyout and James Wood’s pop out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to end the game. The Marlins scored their fourth run when Washington second baseman Luis García Jr. dropped a pop fly with two outs in the eighth inning.
“These coaches, they work their (butts) off,” Martinez said. “And I know every coaching staff is like that. And the players know. Sometimes you have to put the onus on the players and they have to go out there and they have to play the game and play the game the right way. We can’t hit for them, we can’t catch the ball for them, we can’t pitch for them, we can’t throw strikes for them. They’ve got to do that.”
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