Braves general manager Frank Wren said .500 ball wouldn't do it, wouldn't keep this team in contention and the Braves' impending free agents off the trade market.

Well, .500 ball is what the Braves have done so far.

Allen Sullivan / AJC (ENLARGE)

Jair Jurrjens of the Braves throws in the second inning.

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Two games into the second half, they've split games with the Washington Nationals, the team with the worst record in the majors. Two thwarted bases-loaded opportunities left the Braves' offense dormant Saturday night in an 8-2 loss.

"It just wasn't our night," first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "If we'd lost by one run, we could blame it on balls we hit at people, but we kind of got our butts kicked. We just need to try to win the series tomorrow."

The Braves have to win today to take the series and any semblance of fight into a road trip against Florida and Philadelphia, two teams ahead of them in the NL East.

"The series are must-win," Teixeira said. "We can't expect to go out and win every single game. That's just not possible. We have to try to win every series. If we play .500 ball, we're not going to make it."

The Nationals lead the season series with the Braves 6-4, thanks in large part to former Brave Willie Harris. He went 3-for-5 with a triple, an RBI, and a stolen base to give him a .500 average (10-for-20) against the Braves this season. He has hit .204 (28-for-137) against everybody else.

"No explanation for it," Harris told reporters afterward. "I'm just seeing the ball well. It's no different from playing anybody else."

The Braves, meanwhile, looked like a team trying a little too hard.

Brian McCann was thrown out trying to take an extra base after he stole second. Jeff Francoeur struck out on a pitch in the dirt and had two errant throws home. Gregor Blanco got picked off.

And Jair Jurrjens looked like a pitcher who had too long of an All-Star break layoff.

Pitching for the first time in 11 days, Jurrjens allowed five runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"You could say [I was rusty], but that's just excuses," Jurrjens said. "I didn't make pitches when I needed to, and I got hurt."

Jurrjens gave up increasingly damaging hits to Harris (single), Paul Lo Duca (double) and Cristian Guzman (triple) in a three-run third inning.

"It's not like he was getting laced all over the place, but they were having good at-bats, making solid contact, and it just kind of snowballed," Teixeira said.

The 3-0 lead looked vast after the Braves hit two balls hard with the bases loaded but got outs — one by Greg Norton in the fourth and one by McCann in the fifth.

"We could have easily scored eight runs tonight," said McCann, who slammed his helmet in disgust. "Both those hits should have been hits. They were in the gaps; they're playing against the wall."

The Braves scored their first run after nearly running themselves out of the fifth inning. With runners at first and second, Chipper Jones singled to right field. Third base coach Brian Snitker held Jurrjens up at third, but Blanco never looked up and kept running for third. Jurrjens had to head home and scored on a wide throw from Austin Kearns.

The Braves would not score again until Norton's solo home run in the ninth.

"We can't hit the ball any better than we did with men on," manager Bobby Cox said. "If they're at people and they run them down, that's the game of baseball. We had great at-bats and scalded them.

"It's the turning point of the game. We probably win. If they both fall in, I know we win."