The Nationals have considered sitting Bryce Harper against left-handed pitchers down the stretch.

"[Harper is] hitting around .250 and he feels like he probably should hit .400," manager Davey Johnson said. "Instead of trying to be a good hitter and hit line drives everywhere, that you did more so when you first came up here, he's now trying to juice the ball. That's normal with his ability."

Left-handers have been exposing Harper's weakness against off-speed pitches away. At one point in June, the rookie was hitting .366 (15-for-41) with two home runs, two triples, three doubles and four walks against lefties.

In 108 at-bats since then, he is hitting .167 against left-handers.