S(weeping): Nationals 7, Phillies 2

It's entirely possible that the most entertaining part of Wednesday night's affair at Citizens Bank Park between the Phillies and Nationals was the audible yelling from Peanut Girl, otherwise known as Pistacho Girl, the park's lovable snack vendor. If you had the volume up to any level, it was pretty hard to miss her. Yes, 53 games into the season, this is how you lead off an article when your team has lost six games in a row, as the Phillies now have after a 7-2 drubbing.

On paper, Adam Morgan vs. Max Scherzer didn't seem like a fair battle, but that's why they play the... wait, no. Let's try this again.

Adam Morgan vs. Max Scherzer wouldn't exactly be the pitching matchup you'd want with a five-game losing streak on the ledger already, but the Philli... ah, no.

Yes, things are going as expected. A glance at the schedule last week, and you knew the Phillies had a tough road ahead against the Cubs and Nationals. Splitting those six would have been nice. Take two? OK. One? Anyone? No? Yes, the Phillies have lost six games in a row, and the cream of the crop in the National League is flexing its muscle against your Philadelphia Phillies.

Once again, the Phillies were unable to keep the Nats off the board in the first inning, as Ryan Zimmerman brought home Daniel Murphy with an RBI double. This was after Morgan had hit Murphy with a pitch, resulting in what seemed like a relatively unnecessary staredown from Murphy. (We still never forgive you, John Lannan!)

Scherzer was certainly on his game, and against this lineup, well, what else could you have expected? The Phillies had no answer for the Nats' right hander over his eight innings of work.

Things unraveled in the 6th inning for Morgan, as Wilson Ramos cracked a three-run homer to right, followed by a line drive to left off the bat of Danny Espinosa. He allowed nine hits and six earned runs over his six innings of work, and his ERA now stands at 7.07 on the year. Zach Eflin may be in Morgan's nightmares tonight.

All-around superstar Tyler Goeddel continued his hot hitting, so if the Phillies are just going to go ahead and ruin the rest of our summer, it would be just dandy if he brought his May numbers over to June. Goeddel rocketed a two-run homerun to left off Scherzer in the 7th, the lone blemish for the Nats' right-hander on the evening.

But of course, because Dusty's gotta Dusty, he sent Scherzer back out for the 8th inning despite being up 7-2. He had thrown 96 pitches, so his pitch count wasn't too high, but sure, most managers would probably take one of their top starters out of the game up five runs against one of the worst offenses in baseball in early June. But, no, because it's Dusty Baker, he just had to get that 8th inning out of Max. He did get through the 8th, but it can only be assumed that at some point, Scherzer's arm will physically detach from his body, because that's what happens when Dusty Baker is your manager.

Maybe the Phillies will be making their late-season run at a division title by then. Right?