Williams, Nats ready to turn page on rough stretch

MIAMI -- If Saturday's 8-0 loss to the Marlins was any indication, the Nationals may have hit rock bottom. The Nationals couldn't do anything right.

The offense was nonexistent, going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. The dominating pitching, which is the team's backbone, didn't turn up, either. And the Nationals didn't play errorless baseball. In fact, they are 29th in the Major Leagues in fielding percentage (.974).

After the game, manager Matt Williams wasn't pleased by what he saw.

"Today, there wasn't much to say other than [the Marlins] got some big hits, we didn't. So it was a rough day for us. We have to respond, we have to respond tomorrow and play well," Williams said. "Not much other than that to say."

In the middle of the fourth inning, there was even tension in the dugout between right-hander Stephen Strasburg and pitching coach Steve McCatty, who was not available for comment.

Strasburg declined to comment on what was said between the two parties, but admitted that he was frustrated after the Marlins scored two runs.

"That's something that's going to be kept between me and Cat," Strasburg said. "Obviously, I'm a competitive person. There was nothing that he did, there was nothing that I did. There was nothing that anybody did. Maybe a little bit a frustration, so I'm going to leave it at that."

Jayson Werth reminded the local media that the 2015 season is still in its early stages and that the team has time to bounce back from its 7-11 start.

"It will turn. It always does, but you have to stay positive and keep going. It's too early to be frustrated," Werth said.

Wilson Ramos has an idea of how the Nationals can get back to their winning ways.

"We are not doing anything with runners in scoring position," he said. "We have to score some runs, give support to the pitchers. They have been doing a good job. Today is a bad game for us, but we have to keep fighting."

Williams wants to see his team firing on all cylinders.

"We need to respond. We need to play a good game, we need to pitch well, play good defense," Williams said. "We need to work on all aspects of the game. Times like this, there is nothing much to say, other than 'we need to win,' and we'll try to do that tomorrow."