Nationals Manager Blake Butera Calls Out His Team After Ugly Loss to Rockies

Remember that harmonious feeling the Washington Nationals had largely induced for the majority of this season?

Right now, it feels like that was ages ago.

The Nationals were drubbed by the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night by a score of 13-1. After taking an early 1-0 lead, Washington gave up 13 unanswered runs on their home field. The pitching staff couldn't get consistent outs, and the lineup could not break through in a meaningful way, which has been the storyline surrounding this club for basically the entire month of August.

But what took place on Wednesday night was an especially-ugly performance, and it's one that irked manager Blake Butera since he called out his team after the game.

Blake Butera Calls Out His Team's Lack of Effort

Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"Bad. Really bad," he said at the postgame press conference. "I thought we were pretty flat. I thought we didn't play as hard as we normally do. I know the score got to where it got to. I'm not sure that if we played a little harder that would have changed anything. But at the end of the day, we gotta come out expecting and playing our butts off every single night, and I felt like we were short tonight."

Butera didn't mince words with that statement, and based on how things have gone during this month, he's clearly trying to rally the troops to finish this season on a strong note after there were so many positives early on.

In August, the Nationals have gone 7-17. They've given up 112 runs and they've scored one run or less six times. The pitching staff -- outside of ace Cade Cavalli -- continues to be inconsistent. And the lineup has lost most of the mojo they had when they were easily the league's best offense.

Of course, many of the issues that are running rampant for Washington right now were the reasons why many expected this team to be one of the worst in the majors this season. There just isn't a ton of talent on this roster from top to bottom. And without James Wood healthy and available, that has created a huge void in their lineup. Still, the one thing that can be controlled is effort. And Butera seems to think his team is coming up well short in that category at the moment.

For much of the year, he has pushed the right buttons to get this group to overachieve. But it will be interesting to see what happens after he aired out his grievances in public.

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