

(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

MASN’s F.P. Santangelo sat down with Matt Williams before the Nats’ series finale in Houston on Wednesday and asked the first-year manager to reflect on his wild first month at the helm.

“So you want to be a big league manager?” Santangelo began. “First month … injuries, replay, eight one-run ballgames. It’s been kind of crazy.”

“I love it,” Williams said. “It’s right in the fire, isn’t it? It’s kind of where you want to be. And yeah, we’ve had some ups and downs, and some injuries and some things not go our way, but we’ve also played pretty well, too. I think our starting pitching is shaping right where we need it to be. Adam LaRoche has been phenomenal, Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon. A little hiccup in the defense early, but I think that’s kind of worked itself out. So it’s gonna be ebbs and flows throughout the season; it all just kind of happened to us in the first month. But we look at where we’re at and we’re pleased with that.”

Indeed, the Nationals are in better shape than they were last year at this time.

2013 THROUGH APRIL 2014 13-14 Record 16-12 4.5 Games Behind 2.0 96 Runs Scored 126 115 Runs Against 108 24 Errors 26

“I’m enjoying it and so are they,” Williams said. “We haven’t really gone on that run yet, but hopefully that’s coming really quick for us and we can roll off a few in a row.”

If the Nats put together a double-digit winning streak, Williams even promised to break out his Babe Ruth impression.

“If we do 10 in a row, I will break it out,” he said. “It’s been a long time, but yeah, I would. Ten in a row, you got it.”

Two and counting …

You can watch Williams’s entire interview here.