{"id":8666,"date":"2026-08-05T05:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666"},"modified":"2026-08-05T05:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:05:20","slug":"nationals-lose-james-wood-to-oblique-strain-then-fall-meekly-to-phillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666","title":{"rendered":"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington lost, 5-0, and extended its losing streak to seven games.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Zack Littell throws a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies during the second inning at Citizens Bank Park. (Bill Streicher\/Imagn Images\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The Washington Nationals were already facing an uphill battle after the trade deadline, with Foster Griffin, their best starter, and Curtis Mead and Luis Garc\u00eda Jr., two of their top hitters, sent to other teams.<\/p>

Read more Judge dismisses Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy charges against Oath Keepers<\/a><\/p>\n

If that wasn\u2019t enough to derail their mojo, then two-time all-star James Wood landed on the injured list Tuesday with a left oblique strain. They hope it\u2019s a short stint, but obliques are finicky, and hitting requires being able to rotate without pain. Plus, they have to face the Philadelphia Phillies \u2014 a team that only got stronger at the deadline with the addition of three-time batting champion Luis Arr\u00e1ez \u2014 on their home turf.<\/p>\n

The result was as could be expected with all those factors: The Nationals lost, 5-0, on Tuesday to extend their losing streak to seven games and fall to 55-60, a season-high-tying five games under .500.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot. I\u2019m not going to sit here and say it hasn\u2019t affected anyone,\u201d Zack Littell, who gave up four runs in 6\u2154 innings, said. \u201cThis sucks. No one wants to be losing games like this. But at the same time, I\u2019d rather do it now than in September when we have some time to play baseball and get some games back.\u201d<\/p>\n

But to put themselves in a position where games matter in September, the Nationals need to play significantly better than they did Tuesday. Washington had just five hits as Phillies starter Jes\u00fas Luzardo pitched eight scoreless innings.<\/p>\n

When the Nationals did manage to get on base, they couldn\u2019t push the runner across. That\u2019s been a consistent theme of the road trip: They were <\/b>0 for 11 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday and are <\/b>3 for 45 <\/b>six games into the eight-game road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think right now, they\u2019re going through it,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cThey know what we\u2019re in the middle of right now. They know we\u2019re not playing well right now. They know the standings are changing. … When you have a young team like this, sometimes it takes a little bit of extra \u2014 whether it\u2019s motivation or conversations from the staff to just continue to do your thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington has been having those conversations in position groups, Butera said. CJ Abrams, who had two of the five hits, said he has been trying to keep his teammates motivated. Littell said he and some of the other veterans have tried to implore teammates that they need to keep showing up and doing the work.<\/p>

Read more Reflecting Pool defendant\u2019s lawyers move to head off new charges<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI know it feels like the sky is falling a little bit right now,\u201d Littell said. \u201cThis team is still really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Phillies took control of the game early. In the first inning, with Carson Palmquist serving as the opener, Trea Turner singled and Bryce Harper walked. Arr\u00e1ez, in his first at-bat with his new team, hit an RBI single to put the Phillies up 1-0. That also chased Palmquist, far earlier than the Nationals probably wanted.<\/p>\n

Littell, who was scheduled to pitch the bulk of the game, got Alec Bohm to ground into a double play to end the first inning. But two innings later, Littell found himself in trouble. Turner again singled and Harper again walked. Arr\u00e1ez then drove them in again, hitting a grounder that went beyond the diving attempt of first baseman Andr\u00e9s Chaparro. Turner was able to score, while Harper advanced to third and Arr\u00e1ez to second.<\/p>\n

They both scored later that inning, Harper on a sacrifice fly and Arr\u00e1ez on a double from Brandon Marsh. That gave the Phillies a 4-0 lead, and they added on to that in the seventh to make it 5-0. They held onto the lead for the rest of the game, without much of a fight from the Nationals.<\/p>\n

Before the game, as Butera relayed the news that Wood was going on the injured list, he said the Nationals would have to show resiliency and adopt a \u201cnext-man-up\u201d mentality if they were going to put up a fight.<\/p>\n

Except neither of those things happened on Tuesday. Dylan Crews, hitting leadoff in place of Wood, went 0 for 4. Chaparro, the replacement at first for Garc\u00eda, struck out twice. Brady House, playing third in place of Mead, did have one of the Nationals\u2019 five hits but failed to produce anything of value.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality of it is we haven\u2019t seen a ton of players stepping up because we\u2019re not playing very well right now,\u201d Butera said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to try to step up and be that guy when we\u2019re not performing.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Nationals send outfielder James Wood to injured list with oblique strain<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The team fell 5-0 on Tuesday as they extended their losing streak to seven games and moved to five games under .500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The team fell 5-0 on Tuesday as they extended their losing streak to seven games and moved to five games under .500.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T05:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2f54fbce6674f9190c22ab8f94cab262-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T05:05:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666\"},\"wordCount\":858,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666\",\"name\":\"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T05:05:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1705},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8666#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"The team fell 5-0 on Tuesday as they extended their losing streak to seven games and moved to five games under .500.","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-08-05T05:05:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1705,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2f54fbce6674f9190c22ab8f94cab262-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies","datePublished":"2026-08-05T05:05:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666"},"wordCount":858,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666","name":"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-05T05:05:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/13e8fd7b045c28257db196557ed7c1d4-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1705},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8666#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nationals lose James Wood to oblique strain, then fall meekly to Phillies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}