He wishes he could tell you. He sounds like he wishes he could tell himself. Look in his eyes — the blue one, the brown one. Neither has a clue.
"I know I can pitch better," he said after blowing an early lead, allowing three home runs, four doubles and seven loud outs to the Mets, as his Nationals lost, 8-5, on Monday to fall five games behind New York in the NL East. Scherzer labored all day. The Mets got the holiday.
The Nats did everything they could for Scherzer, knocking out Mets starter Jon Niese in the fourth inning with a grand slam by Wilson Ramos, part of a five-run inning. That's all a $210-million ace needs, right?
Instead, the Nats lost for the ninth time in Scherzer's last 13 starts. Three times in those losses he faced little-known rookies. Niese is the Mets' fifth starter, which should have given the Nats a matchup edge. Now Washington faces the Mets' best duo: Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom.
In the middle of June, Scherzer was the talk of baseball. He came as close to pitching back-to-back perfect games as anybody probably ever will. Almost every pitch was where he wanted, within a baseball's width. His pitching lines still seem ridiculous: 9-1-0-0-1-16 and 9-0-0-0-0-10. I've marked those games "Do Not Erase" on my DVR in case I ever need to see what a pitcher looks like with command of five "plus" pitches. That pitcher still exists, but nobody can find him.
Instead, Scherzer, who claims to be in ideal health and still throws as high as 98 miles-per-hour, is a complete mystery, to himself, his team and all of baseball. In his last seven starts, his ERA is 6.08 with 11 home runs allowed. They say hitting a baseball is the hardest job in sports. Throwing one isn't such a soft gig either.
Asked about Scherzer's bludgeoning, Williams said, "The ball was really carrying today." Stop laughing. In June, the ball was "carrying" all the way into the catcher's mitt for strike three or bouncing for a ground out. Now the grounds crew has to drag the warning track between innings.
"I'm making a lot of great pitches," said Scherzer, who still has his strikeout stuff and control with a 53-to-seven strikeout-to-walk ratio in his last seven starts. "But when I miss, I'm just making mistakes in the (middle of) the zone — thigh high. And I keep doing it. I have to work at the knees. I know I can drive balls down in the zone."
A look of complete disgust covered his face as he added, "When I'm up (in the strike zone), they are absolutely able to punish me. I'm not here to shy away from that. . .I've just got to get better — down at the knees. . .I'm just disappointed. . .extremely frustrating I couldn't give that lead to the bullpen."
No one likes to touch the sorest part of their wound. Scherzer mentioned weeks ago that his arm slot was too low, preventing him from getting on top of the ball and making his pitches sinks. He insists that's fixed. But that's not what the eye sees. His fastball still often moves too much laterally, without enough drop. Is that fatigue or mechanics? Can his last five starts be what the Nats require to make a move?
By his day's end, Scherzer was a shaken pitcher who wild-pitched one man to third base and balked another. Because the Nats don't trust their middle-inning relief corps, Scherzer stayed on the mound until his lead was gone. As soon as he exited, game tied at 5, Williams used four relievers in a span of four hitters in the seventh inning, and when it was over, the Mets led, 8-5.
Scherzer has been a diligent student, ferocious worker and finished-product star for years. His difficulties will presumably pass. His 1.79 ERA in June was probably the fantasy. His 3.03 ERA now is what the Nats expected.
What may not pass, what may require change, is the Nats' middle-inning relief. Nine cranes surround Nationals Park these days. A 10th should appear above the bullpen.
New construction is grand. Poor construction, like the Nats' brick-shy bullpen, is a poor foundation for a pennant push. There, general manager Mike Rizzo, the Nats' architect, has done some of his rare weak work.
Partly, the problem is misfortune. Dependable reliever Craig Stammen had flexor tendon surgery in April. He walked through the clubhouse before the game to offer encouragement. Mostly, he looked like The Missing (Bullpen) Link.
Rizzo provided Williams with four main relievers to get him to set up man Drew Storen and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Two, Casey Janssen and Matt Thornton, used to be very good closers. Two, young Felipe Rivero and Blake Treinen, may be good very soon. But right now, with the Nats in desperate need of wins over the Mets, none appears quite good enough. The way Williams kept pulling them, like picking cards for a better gin-rummy hand, he hardly seemed confident in any.
The mood of pennant races change every 24 hours. Fans sometimes mistake one score for a season's verdict. Asked about Nats fans, Bryce Harper delivered a harsh but true message: "They left in the seventh. That's pretty brutal."
What is the player view? "It's done. I'm over it. Sometimes it rains," said Harper who went 0-for-4. "We got 25 left to play."
But not too many more to lose.
For more by Thomas Boswell, visit washingtonpost.com/boswell.
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