Rough seas

Remember all those good vibes from the Wild Things as they approached the all-star break? Washington was tied for first place in the East Division and holding one of the Frontier League's four potential playoff spots.

Fast forward less than a month and the Good Ship Wild Things is taking on water at a rapid rate. The ship might not be sinking but the water buildup in the engine room is causing coughs and sputters.

Washington is 5-15 since the all-star break, has lost a season-high six consecutive games and ended its nine-game road trip Sunday with a 2-7 record. Somehow, the Wild Things are still in third place in the East Division, but 5 1/2 games behind first-place Joliet. Forget for a moment about the wild card. Washington is closer to having the worst record in the league than it is to being in a playoff spot.

So what has gone so wrong so fast?

It has been a combination of things. A season-long offensive slump has finally caught up with the Wild Things. the pitching staff that carried the team in the first half of the year is leaking oil and ace pitcher Trevor Foss, who could be counted on to win every fifth or sixth day and give the bullpen the night off, had his contract purchased by the Cleveland Indians.

First, let's examine the offense. Washington is 11th in the 12-team Frontier League in hitting. The Wild Things haven't been above 11th in team batting average since the opening week of the season but they were finding ways to win games in the first half of the year. At one point early in the season, Washington had seven players hitting less than .200, and five of those were starters, but they were winning.

The team batting average is up to .237, which is almost the season high. But some of the pieces in the offense are struggling, even after Washington put up nine runs in a loss Sunday at River City. Let's examine the numbers:

Jamodrick McGruder is on streaks of 0-for-15 and 2-for-27.

Jimmy Yezzo is 3 for his last 19, and 6 for 31.

Chris Grayson is 4-for-22, even after getting three hits Sunday.

Grant Fink hit a couple of home runs on the road trip, but he's also 4-for-26.

Zach Fish hasn't exactly made an impact as he has one hit in 13 at-bats. He was released Monday.

Kyle Pollock, who had a nice hot streak at midseason, is on a 3-for-26 skid.

Logan Uxa has one hit in his last 12 at-bats.

Washington's is batting only .217 with two outs and runners in scoring position. That's the worst average in the league.

Getting the leadoff hitter of the inning on base has been a huge trouble spot. Washington batters are hitting only .236 when leading off an inning, which is second-worst in the league. Only Windy City is worse, at .229.

Those numbers will cause any team to lose games rapidly.

But Washington had those kind of ugly offensive numbers all season. They were winning games because the pitching was bailing out the offense.

Now that Foss is gone -- actually, it started before he left -- the pitching has been faltering.

Let's look at the numbers:

Chase Cunningham is 0-4 with an 11.66 ERA in his last four starts. He hasn't made it out of the fifth inning in any of those starts.

Luke Wilkins is winless since July 1 and has a 5.94 ERA over that period. Washington has lost seven consecutive games in which Wilkins has pitched, though not all of those can be blamed on the pitcher.

Sam Agnew-Wieland's last three outings have produced 13 earned runs over 9 2/3 innings, an ERA of 12.10. He, too, was released Monday.

Not all of the pitching has been bad. Matt Fraudin has been spectacular. Somehow he lost Saturday while allowing only four hits at hitter-friendly River City. How does that happen? Closer Zac Grotz, who hasn't had many opportunities to close recently, has allowed only one run since the break.

Basically, the Wild Things still aren't hitting, the starting pitching is not what it was in the first half of the season and even the fielding his been shaky since the break. It has added up to some rough sailing for the Wild Things, who need to right the ship before it's too late to send out an SOS.