The Washington Nationals are watching the season fall apart right before their eyes.
In the latest incident for a team that hasn’t lived up to expectations, Jayson Werth and Gio Gonzalez had to be separated after Gonzalez failed to cover first for an inning-ending double play.
It’s just one in a long list of things that have gone wrong for the Nationals this year.
The frustrations likely stem from the fact that the Nationals sit at 57-60 and 14 games out in the NL East.
Then, there’s this:
It appears Gonzalez could have been unhappy about Werth lackadaisically getting to the ball on a first-inning double, while Werth was unhappy about Gonzalez not covering first.
Regardless, both players made mistakes in the first inning but wanted to focus on their teammate’s mistake.
Twitter also had a reaction:
Everything has come to a head.
Will players start jumping down each other’s throats when a mistake is made? Where’s the leadership?
Players like Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche need to take this team by the horns and restore order to the clubhouse. The only real sign of leadership coming this year has been courtesy of Bryce Harper, who told Dan Kolko of MASNSports.com that the team needed to show some heart.
But Harper, who is only 20, shouldn’t be responsible for assuming the role of a veteran. That type of influence needs to come from guys who have the experience to back it up.
That lack of leadership is why the Nationals have struggled in 2013 and why incidents like this are happening.
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