To put some perspective on the offense, or lack thereof:
A quality start is defined as 6 innings pitched with 3 earned runs or fewer. These days, many starters, especially back-of-the-rotation guys like Fedde and spot starters like Espino, aren't even expected to go six innings, so maybe the "quality start" definition should also take into account 5-inning starts with 3 ER or fewer.
Taking that into account, in 30 games, Nationals starters have given up 4 or more earned runs in 9 starts. Of these, 5 were in the first 10 games of the season. So in the last 20 starts, 16 have been essentially "quality" starts. The team won 10 of those. So that is six games in the last 20 where the starters gave the team a chance to win and either the offense failed to show up or the bullpen failed. And even regarding bullpen woes, the offense matters since you pitch differently when you have a big lead vs. when you have to worry that every pitch you throw could be the difference between a team win and a loss.
Also, in only one of the nine "bad" starts, Scherzer's opening day 6IP/4ER performance, did the offense bail out the pitching staff. The other "bad" starts are a mixed bag, some losses falling on the starter and some on the offense for failing to give him support:
• In Fedde's Game 2 7-6 loss, the team gave him a lead which he gave up.
• In Corbin's Game 5 9-5 loss, the team managed 5 runs, but 2 were in the ninth and were essentially meaningless.
• Strasburg was shelled in Game 8's 14-3 loss, but the offense also only gave him 1 run of support, adding again 2 more meaningless 9th inning runs.
• The offense did show up for Game 10's 11-6 loss, with 4 runs in the first, but Corbin was awful those first 2 innings.
• In Game 14's 12-5 loss, the team managed 5 runs, but again the last 3 of them only came when they were already down 11-2.
• In Game 19, the team was shut out, so it would not have mattered if Corbin gave up 1 run or 10.
• Game 20's 9-5 loss is on Scherzer for not pitching around Vlad, Jr.
• In Game 26, a 5-3 loss, the team did not manage to score until 1 run in the 4th, when Fedde had already given up 5, and 2 runs in the 8th ended up only getting our hopes up.
The optimistic view is that good pitching beats good hitting, and our starting rotation is relatively strong and improving, so maybe if the offense can finally get going and the relievers don't have to pitch under the same pressure, the team's chances are better than they look on paper. But the offense really needs to get going. Five shutouts and 3 one-run games is not great.
Sorry for babbling on. Also, if I've reminded any of you of performances you'd just have soon have forgotten, sorry for that as well.
