WASHINGTON -- During the offseason and Spring Training, a lot of baseball experts talked about how bad the Nationals pitching staff was going to be because of the lack of experience.

So far, the prediction about the staff has been wrong. Except for the first week of the season, the starters are giving the Nationals a chance to win games.

What wasn't talked about before the season started was the offense. Sure, they lost Alfonso Soriano to free agency, but there was a feeling that the Nationals would continue to score runs. However, the offense has been below average all season long. For example, the Nationals are 38-for-218 (.174) with runners in scoring position, the worst in baseball.

On Sunday afternoon, Washington gave the 27,361 fans at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium a taste of how good the pitching has been and how spotty the offense has become. Right-hander Jason Bergmann made one mistake, and it proved costly as the Nationals were blanked by the Mets, 1-0. It marked the second time Washington has been shut out in a game this season

Bergmann had his fourth consecutive quality start, pitching a season-high seven innings while giving up just the one run on two hits. He struck out six batters and walked three.

The right-hander has been so good that manager Manny Acta announced after the game that the organization no longer has concerns about Bergmann, who got off to a slow start this season by walking too many batters.

"He did a terrific job. I'm very proud of the kid after that rough beginning that he had. Just outstanding," Acta said. "He has had four in a row like that. It's completely out of our minds that we are going to see the Jason Bergmann of last year and the beginning of the season."

The run that Bergmann gave up on Sunday was scored in the sixth inning with one out. Prior to Sunday's action, center fielder Carlos Beltran was 4-for-6 against the right-hander. The problems continued as Beltran hit an 0-1 pitch over the right-field wall. It was Beltran's fifth home run of the season.

"It was a missed spot," Bergmann said. "It was supposed to be a fastball in and it rose up and away. Hey, he's good. He hit the ball out. That's the game."

Bergmann's counterpart, John Maine, had a better outing, pitching seven shutout innings, while Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis and Billy Wagner blanked the Nationals the rest of the way. But the Nationals had opportunities to score, with their biggest chances coming in the seventh and eighth innings.

In the seventh, Washington had runners on first and second with no outs. Jesus Flores came to the plate and showed bunt way too early. By the time, Flores bunted the ball, first baseman Julio Franco was already near home plate. Franco grabbed the ball and threw Austin Kearns out at third base.

"I told Maine, 'Make sure he bunts the ball to me,'" Franco said. "I was cheating already. It gave me a couple of extra steps. I was right on top of it."

It was another case of the Nationals not doing the little things well. Acta, however, seems patient enough to wait for things to turn around.

"We keep stressing that we have to play close to perfect baseball with situations like that," Acta said. "How many times are we going to beat the Mets, 2-1 [or] 1-0? You have to get the bunt down and make the plays when we have to. We just couldn't do it today."

After Flores' bunt, Chris Snelling and Robert Fick -- pinch-hitting for Bergmann -- struck out to end the threat.

In the eighth inning, history repeated itself; with Heilman on the mound, the Nationals had runners on first and second with no outs. But Ryan Zimmerman struck out swinging, and Dmitri Young flied out to put runners on first and third.

After Heilman walked Austin Kearns to load the bases, Mets manager Willie Randolph decided to bring in Schoeneweis, a left-hander, to face Ryan Church. The move by Randolph worked, as Church hit a hard ground ball to Franco to end the inning.

"Two feet here, two feet there, it could have cleared the bases," Church said. "It was a hot shot, there's nothing you can really do."

The Nationals now travel to San Diego to face Padres right-hander Jake Peavy, the man who struck out 16 Diamondbacks last week. That could spell more trouble for the Nationals' offense.

"[Peavy] did real well last time," Zimmerman said. "We faced [Cole] Hamels after he did real well and we beat him. Hopefully we can repeat it."