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We thought that the pain caused by the loss of Nyjer Morgan to the disabled list would be more than compensated for by an emerging Roger Bernadina, who went 4-for-8 in two starts at the top of the order in the Arizona series. However, manager Jim Riggleman, who clearly favors unnecessary platoons over any chance at establishing consistency, thought that Bernadina would be at a disadvantage going against left-handed starters (Clayton Kershaw and Ted Lilly) in the Dodgers series and started the right-handed-hitting, underperforming Justin Maxwell in center instead.

Bernadina isn’t hitting great against lefties (7-27, 2 HR), but it’s not like he’s John Kruk against Randy Johnson. Maxwell laid an egg on Friday (0-4, 4 strikeouts) in the leadoff spot and was subsequently moved down to seventh in the order for Sunday’s game. Alberto Gonzalez, who took over the leadoff spot on Sunday, didn’t fare much better, going 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts. Bernadina, meanwhile, at least got a hit and scored on Ryan Zimmerman’s home run on Saturday, providing the only runs of the night. With no one setting the table at the top of the order, the Nats were forced to play long-ball to mostly poor results. With the exception of Adam Dunn’s twin bombs on Friday, the Nats went 0-15 with runners in scoring position in the series, while 10 of the 11 runs scored came as a result of home runs.

The Nationals are capable of manufacturing runs with speed on the basepaths, but the lack of a leadoff threat is clearly hurting them.