Washington Nationals’ lineup for second of four with the St. Louis Cardinals...

So how are the Washington Nationals dealing with the dawning realization that this might not be their year? Back-to-back walk-off losses, a game over .500 and 7.0 games back 119 games into the season? How is everyone in the clubhouse taking it all?

“They’re good,” Davey Martinez told reporters after the St. Louis Cardinals walked off on the Nationals a night after the Chicago Cubs did the same.

“After yesterday they could have came in today and played flat, they didn’t,” the first-year skipper added.

“They came in and they battled. We fell behind, guess what, we battled again and we tied the game. Like I said, I’m proud, these guys all know, big moments are coming and they’ve got to prepare for them and some guys have just got to step up and do the job and these other guys have to just keep playing the way they’re playing.”

With the team 5-5 in their last 10, and now 11-21 in one-run games after last night’s 7-6 loss in St. Louis, how is Martinez himself handling it all?

A reporter asked him last night how the manager is sleeping these days?

“It’s funny, cause I don’t sleep most nights,” Martinez said.

“I like to watch the replays of the game and see what I can see to maybe help a player, I really do, and last night was no different. I got back to the room and I just watched some of the pitches that were made and some of the strikes and stuff like that, but it makes it better when I wake up knowing that, ‘Hey, we’ve got guys swinging the bat, [Ryan Zimmerman is] playing well, [Daniel Murphy] is playing well, all of them — [Bryce] Harper is starting to swing the bat really well. So I love coming to the ballpark and I love competing and they know that, and they compete every day. And it’s a good thing knowing that we have a chance to win every game. We’ve done that all year long, we’ve had chances to win a lot of games, we’ve just got to finish, we’ve got to finish games.”

How will the Nationals bounce back from last night’s loss?

HERE’S THE LINEUP FOR THE NATS’ SECOND GAME WITH THE CARDINALS: