Wire Taps: Welcome to the bad place; Nationals fall below .500; Erick Fedde leaves with shoulder inflammation...

Hey, remember when we said “Well, at least it can’t get worse”?

We’re not going to say that anymore.

Here are the hits from Half Street:

Nats hold team meeting to discuss horrific stretch (AP/ESPN)
"Done in again by small mistakes that get magnified in a stretch such as this, the preseason National League East favorites lost for the 17th time in 22 games Wednesday to fall below .500 for the first time this late in the year since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015."

Should the freefalling Nationals look to trade Bryce Harper? (USA Today)
"Should they lose, say, 17 of their next 23, they almost have to. There’s almost no way the draft picks you’re going to get if Harper walks will be more valuable than the prospects you’d get in a deadline deal."

Adams activated, Collins designated for assignment (MASN)
Apparently, Matt Adams has no danger of re-injuring himself and feels, uh, not horrible, so the Nats are going to play him.

Matt Adams reinstated from disabled list, will platoon with Mark Reynolds (MLB)
Matt Adams hit the ball off the end of his bat during batting practice during which he felt a brief but fleeting sting. That was his cue to return.

Nationals activate Matt Adams from disabled list, designate Tim Collins
Tim Collins pitched to a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings, but the Nats decided to designate him for assignment anyways for Matt Adams, who was supposed to be out for a lot longer than this.

Players gather, demand more from each other after latest loss (MASN)
After going 5-17 and getting shut out in eight out of thirty games, the Nationals finally sat down and held a team meeting, with Max Scherzer leading the charge.

Erick Fedde exits game with shoulder soreness; MRI results negative (WaPo)
Erick Fedde would have pushed through his right shoulder stiffness if it was last year. He probably would have done so if Pedro Severino didn't catch him wincing. But he didn't push through, and he got a pretty okay diagnosis: inflammation without structural damage.