Nationals try to regroup before start of three-game set with Rockies in Coors Field

After the Washington Nationals were swept by the San Francisco Giants in their four-game set in AT&T Park, the Nats were up to six straight losses overall, which left them a game below .500 at 58-59 on the year.

Their offense has struggled to score runs. Their starters have been knocked out early. They've won two games in a row just once since the All-Star Break.

Not much is going right for the defending NL East champs, who now trail the New York Mets by 4.5 games in spite of the fact that the Mets dropped three straight to the Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend in Citi Field.

The Nationals are 10-20 in their last 30 games after they started the so-called second-half of the 2015 campaign with a 3.0 game lead in the division.

"We've got to get better in all aspects," Nats' skipper Matt Williams told reporters after the Nationals were shut out by Madison Bumgarner and the Giants on Sunday.

"It will be good to get the guys a day off tomorrow and let them get away from the game for a little while, come back fresh on Tuesday and go from there."

As bad as they've been in recent weeks, they didn't lose any ground this weekend thanks to the Pirates.

"We are in the hunt," Williams said. "So we have to look at it that way every day and move forward. That's what we do."

The focus going foward?

"Everything," he said. "Sometimes you have a guy out on the mound that you've got to scrap against and keep them down too.

"In recent games, starting pitching for us hasn't been what they're accustomed to being so we have to make sure we're focused on that, string some hits together, get a big hit when we need it.

"All of those things, so we will move forward and we will be ready on Tuesday."

On Tuesday night, the Nationals start a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies who took two of three in D.C. last weekend.

With things getting desperate and the losses piling up, Williams was asked if he thought the team was pressing?

"It's human nature," he said. "But, that being said, we have to look at where we're at and what the big picture is and the big picture is that if we win some games we jump right back in this thing.

"We do have a lot of games to go, we've got to start, start on Tuesday and play a good game, get that 'W' and go from there."

Williams said he didn't expect any changes to the roster, though he'd shuffled the lineup recently, trying to find the right mix with a number of players struggling.

"At this point, we have our everyday guys back," he explained.

"They'd certainly like to be doing better than they are right now, but they will. And we'll try to get the other guys in there as much as we can to keep them as sharp as possible. It starts on Tuesday, we'll go from there."

It doesn't appear that there will be any changes on the bench either. Nats' GM Mike Rizzo was asked on Sunday afternoon if he would give Williams a vote of confidence?

"I’ve had nothing but complimentary things to say about our manager since we hired him," Rizzo told reporters, including USA TODAY Sports writer Jorge L. Ortiz.

Nationals drop sixth straight, 5-0 to Giants

Photo © Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports

"We have a professional group that has performed at the highest level for a long time," Rizzo told MLB.com's Bill Ladson. "We are counting on those guys to play like they are supposed to play and pick it up."

In spite of their struggles, Williams said the Nationals weren't down on themselves.

"No. Not this group. This group doesn't do that. We come to play every day. We have shown in the past that we can run off a few in a row as well, so let them have a day and relax tomorrow, start on Tuesday again."