Bergmann, Nationals fall apart in the fifth

Jason Bergmann is not, by nature, an emotional guy.

The 26-year-old right-hander is as easygoing and friendly as any player inside the Washington Nationals’ clubhouse, so when he spent four minutes in front of his locker last night in full uniform repeatedly trashing himself following a 10-4 loss to the Florida Marlins, heads turned and ears perked.

“I’m pretty fired up,” Bergmann said. “I’m really [ticked] off because I’m better than that. This team didn’t need that. I failed these guys tonight, and I’m pretty [ticked] off about it.”

Washington’s sixth straight loss, played before a crowd of 23,340 at Nationals Park, was perhaps the ugliest of this ragged stretch. Certainly, the Marlins’ seven-run fifth inning against Bergmann qualified as the low point of a season that began with much promise but has since taken a significant turn for the worse.

The Nationals (3-6) are starting to feel the strain.

“I know it’s early, but we need to turn it around quick,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “Because this is getting ridiculous.”

The pressure on Bergmann to turn things around might be greater than on anyone else because he could find his job in jeopardy with another start like this.

That would never have seemed possible yesterday afternoon, when the list of candidates who could lose their job when presumptive ace Shawn Hill returns from the disabled list was limited to young lefties Matt Chico and John Lannan.

But Bergmann’s performance through his first two starts (0-1, 10.45 ERA) has to thrust him into the conversation.

“We’re not going to make our decision based on one bad outing or two bad outings,” manager Manny Acta said. “We’re going to sit down and talk about it when Hill is ready. … A lot can happen between now and then.”

Acta did acknowledge that Bergmann, a reliever when he first debuted in the big leagues, could be considered for a move back to the bullpen, though that hasn’t been discussed yet.

What has been most surprising about Bergmann thus far has been the manner in which he has crumbled deep into his outings. Last week in Philadelphia, he allowed one run over his first five innings only to surrender four more on a barrage of hits in the sixth.

Last night’s start was stunningly similar. Bergmann threw scoreless ball for four innings, then was battered for seven runs on six hits during a nightmarish fifth.

“That last inning was just inexcusable,” the right-hander said. “It was me coming apart, and I’ve got to work much harder to not do that.”

Bergmann’s undoing began with his first pitch of the inning, which Jorge Cantu tattooed into the left-field bleachers. Bergmann then allowed back-to-back singles. Opposing pitcher Scott Olsen sacrificed both runners up, leaving first base open and leaving Acta with his first dilemma of the night: pitch to Hanley Ramirez or intentionally walk the dangerous Florida leadoff man and go after Dan Uggla?

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