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The injuries are not just an excuse. The Nats played most of the first half with Zimmerman, Eaton, Murphy, Wieters and Kendrick out. Take five starters off the field and see how your favorite team would do. Plus Harper is in a deep slump, partly because everyone is pitching around him and he's gotten frustrated and is reaching for pitches.

The Nats are starting to get people back from injury, but the pitching has collapsed. Given their injury and bullpen problems, they were pressing their starters to go long in every game. At the beginning of the season, the Nats had one of the best starting pitching staffs in the league. Now Strasburg is injured, Hellickson did a turn on the DL, and Gio and Roark are burned out. Scherzer can't pitch every night.

It's shaping up as a jinxed season. If everyone can get healthy and stay healthy, the Nats can get back into it. But that's a big if.