Katy Perry Is No Longer Helping Washington Nationals Reliever Ryan Mattheus

The past two outings for Washington Nationals reliever Ryan Mattheus have been pretty rough.

After allowing two runs and four hits over his last 1.2 innings, Mattheus is presumably evaluating his approach and trying to figure out what might be going wrong. He's been one of the very few poor performers for what's been outstanding work by the Nats' pitching staff. 

So is the problem with Mattheus' mechanics? Is his sinker not sinking? Does he need to mix in his slider and changeup better? Maybe he's tipping his pitches? 

Or is the real issue with Mattheus' entrance music?

As MASN.com's Dan Kolko explains, Mattheus' song of choice has been Katy Perry's "Firework." 

Katy Perry? Not Metallica? Or AC/DC? Anything a little more...intimidating? 

The whole thing started out as a joke. At least that's the story Mattheus is going with. Mattheus told Kolko:

"

We were just out after a game one time, and we heard the song, It was early in the year, so neither of us had a walk-out song yet. I'm like, "Dude, I'm just gonna do this. Katy Perry." And it was kind of fun, kind of a joke. And then I got (to the majors), and I had had success using it, so I was like, "I gotta do it."

"

Mattheus didn't give up a run at home last season, so who had the last laugh? You don't mess with success. You respect the streak, as Crash Davis said. Mattheus said it relaxes him to have something more goofy and fun, as opposed to a song that ramps him up. 

But in light of his recent struggles, it might be time for a change.

"I'm kind of debating it," Mattheus said. "But I think it's fun. The fans now are starting to get a little reaction out of it. It's just a fun song, kind of a joke. That's why I used it."

Was this whole post just an excuse to embed a Katy Perry video for "Firework?" Don't be ridiculous.

But you can view the video here.

UPDATE (9:45 p.m.): Kolko tweeted during the eighth inning of Thursday night's Nats game that Mattheus is sticking with "Firework" for now.

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