Key To Nationals' Success Is Banana And Mayonnaise Sandwiches

Matt LeCroy (Tony Firriolo/Getty Images) The Washington Nationals are in a three-way tie with Atlanta and Miami for first place in the NL East entering play

Matt LeCroy (Tony Firriolo/Getty Images)

The Washington Nationals are in a three-way tie with Atlanta and Miami for first place in the NL East entering play on Monday after going 7-3 in their last 10 games.

The secret to their success is a southern delicacy — banana and mayonnaise sandwiches — which is a favorite of first-year bullpen coach Matt LeCroy.

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“A lot of people were hurting in the beginning, and we needed some big wins so I thought, ‘I gotta go with the banana-and-mayonnaise,’” LeCroy told James Wagner of The Washington Post late last week. The Nationals are 5-0 on days when he eats the sandwich before the game, a fact that the jovial LeCroy is proud of."

LeCroy said he's enjoyed the sandwiches since he was a kid growing up in South Carolina. Sometimes he even spreads mayo on saltine crackers as a snack and he'll wash it down with a Coke, Wagner reports.

But LeCroy stressed he only turns to the sandwich in dire situations.

“You can’t go to it all the time,” he said. “If you go to it too much, it doesn’t work.”

Whatever works, Matt.

[ForTheWin via The Washington Post]

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