MILWAUKEE -- Despite watching his team lose seven out of its first eight games on this current road trip, Nationals manager Manny Acta continues to be optimistic that his team can turn the season around. Washington had a 9-24 record entering Wednesday's action.

Acta likes the fact that left-hander Matt Chico rebounded from a subpar start against the Padres with a quality start against the Brewers on Monday. Acta also pointed out that Ryan Zimmerman's bat is coming around.

"You have to stay positive and keep talking to the guys. I don't know what people are looking for. Turning the tables around or turning the spread over and not allow the guys to eat will not help. It has nothing to do with what happens on the field," Acta said. "If that's what people think that's what it takes, then they are wrong. We have to keep working, and we are gong to snap out of it."

Acta said the Nationals continue to play hard. They need the offense and pitching to click all at once. The pitching has been solid for most of the season, but offense has struggled. The Nationals have a Major League worst .229 batting average.

The new center fielder: Ryan Langerhans received the start in center field against the Brewers on Wednesday afternoon. Acta hinted that Langerhans may get more starts over Nook Logan, who was hitless in his five at-bats since being taken off the disabled list.

Acta wouldn't say how many times a week Langerhans would start.

"[Langerhans] is on the team. He is going to play. We have to throw him out there and give him some at-bats," Acta said. "Remember, when we said that Nook was going to be our center fielder, we didn't have Langerhans here."

Langerhans is Logan's equal when it comes to playing sparkling defense, but both have had problems with the bat.

Good news: First baseman Nick Johnson continues to recover nicely from his broken leg. He already has been hitting off a tee for more than a week, and he said on Wednesday that he might try to take fielding practice this weekend at RFK Stadium.

"We have to see," Johnson said after Wednesday's game against the Brewers. "It's not like ground balls. It would be like little rollers."

Johnson has not yet given a timetable on when he expects to action.

New position: Infielder Ronnie Belliard played first base for the first time in his big-league career on Wednesday. He entered the game in the seventh inning and scooped up a throw from second baseman Felipe Lopez to get Damian Miller for the second out of the inning.

"The ball caught me," Belliard said. "I didn't catch the ball. I had a nice stretch, but the ball just went into the glove."

Belliard, who is considered an excellent second baseman and shortstop, has been taking ground balls at first base for more than a week. He lost his job as the regular second baseman after shortstop Cristian Guzman returned to action, switching fill-in shortstop Lopez back to second base.

"It's never too late to do anything in the big leagues. I did it [Wednesday] to help the team," Belliard said.

Stat of the day: The Nationals have saved five games in 12 opportunities this season.

Did you know? Entering Wednesday's action, Brian Schneider had seven hits in his last 21 at-bats to raise his average from .184 to .216.

Coming up: The Nationals have the day off on Thursday, and then to return to Robert F. Kenendy Stadium to play a three-game series against the Marlins starting Friday night. Washington right-hander Shawn Hill (2-3, 3.00 ERA) will face Florida left-hander Scott Olsen (3-2, 4.89 ERA) in the 7:05 p.m. ET opener.