The Nationals are off to a rough start to the season and fans are really starting to chirp about second-year skipper Davey Martinez.
But 29 games into the season is probably still "a little bit too early" for the players to start worrying about their manager's job security, Nats closer Sean Doolittle said during his weekly 106.7 The Fan appearance with Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier, presented by Lindsay Volvo Cars of Alexandria.
Doolittle was asked if he's cognizant of the fans' displeasure, and if that forces any extra pressure onto the players to perform better in defense of Martinez.
"I think it's a little bit too early to start worrying about that," Doolittle said. "I think managers a lot of times, they get probably too much of the blame, a disproportionate amount of the blame. You know, he had a tough gig following Dusty coming in here. You think about Dusty's resume and everything he's done in and around this game."
"But, you know, look at it objectively and the number of injuries that we've had," he said. "And we've played almost the whole season without Trea. Tony's been out of the lineup for a while and now he's on the IL. Zimm's on the IL. So, I think it's a little bit too early. We had a rough April last year, but then we turned it around. We had a great May last year, too."
"Hopefully we keep riding it out, the guys that are filling in for those guys continue to play well," he added. "It's been really fun watching these young guys play, Soto and Robles and Kieboom.
"Our starting pitching that we've gotten as a whole has been absolutely outstanding, some of the best starting pitching in baseball. So there are a lot of good things, that we feel like we're really, really not far from putting together a good road trip, having a good month and being at the top of the division."
Rouhier turned the conversation to the NL East, where the Phillies, Mets and Braves all lead the Nats (in that order), but with little separation between the four clubs.
"Does what's going on in the division influence you guys at all? Because it would feel daunting if somebody was 19-9," Rouhier said. "It would feel daunting if all of a sudden it was an eight-game lead and you're like, 'We don't have any time!' But as you're saying, let's tread until Trea's back, Anthony's back, etcetera, right?"
"Yeah, although I think that's a trap we fell into last year," Doolittle said, "where we had some injuries early and we were like, 'Alright, let's just try to keep our head above water and once we get these guys back, we'll really take off.' I think that was a trap we fell into and we can't do that again this year. We have to go. We have to maybe start playing with a little bit more urgency."
"But when you look at what's going on in the rest of the division – and knock on wood – so far nobody is really running away and hiding," he said. "And we've played well in the beginning of the season against the Mets and the Phillies, two teams that are above us right now in the standings, so we feel like when we go head-to-head with those teams, we have a chance to make up some ground and shake things up a little bit.
"We have a series with the Phillies after we're done here with the Cardinals, and those are really, really meaningful games for the first week of May."
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