Even before Sunday, he had a disturbing habit of taking his time getting to first after fielding grounders. He had always been able to time it just right — getting his foot to the bag a split-second ahead of the runner — but that tactic didn’t work Sunday when he turned his back on Johnson after scooping up a routine grounder in front of the base.

While LaRoche jogged leisurely to make the expected out, Johnson ran hard all the way. Television replays were inconclusive about which one got there first, but all that mattered was what the umpire ruled.

Safe.

The Nationals took advantage of the blunder, putting together three straight hits that turned a 1-0 game into a 5-0 blowout. The rest of the way, LaRoche was booed loudly by the home fans every time he came up to bat or made a fielding play.

He was contrite afterward. First, he headed to manager Bobby Cox’s office to apologize. He did the same with starting pitcher John Thomson. And he didn’t complain a bit about being benched for the opener of a four-game series against the Marlins.

“I probably would do the same thing,” LaRoche said.

Cox isn’t the type to hold grudges. He once benched Andruw Jones in the middle of an inning for not hustling after a ball, but the two have nothing but respect for each other these days. The manager expects the same thing to happen with LaRoche after he serves his penalty.

“He’s a great kid,” Cox said. “If he was a dog, it’d be a different story. It’s just, every once in a while, things like that happen.”

LaRoche vowed that it will never happen again. He also conceded — somewhat grudgingly — that maybe he should call up that doctor who treated him previously for ADD.

“Maybe I’ll check into it,” he said. “That was two years ago. I’m sure they’ve come a long way since then.”

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