Monday, August 04, 2014

Dominating performance from Stephen Strasburg



Strasburg struck out 10 and allowed 3 hits in 7 innings. Dominating the Phillies. And Cole Hamels wasn’t exactly a slouch in the pitching department either. He had an unearned run in the third inning but gave up only four hits and struck out six. Strasburg record is only 8-9. But a couple of those losses are due to not getting any run support from the team.

From the Post:

From the start of the Washington Nationals’ 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday afternoon, Strasburg seized full command. He stared down Cole Hamels, dominated for seven scoreless innings and laid claim to his spot atop the Nationals’ rotation. The Nationals scored only once off Hamels, as Denard Span remained a wrecking ball atop their lineup. They added three more runs in the eighth. But for the majority of the afternoon Strasburg outdueled Hamels, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits.

I'd say it was a duel between the two until the 8th. The Philles took Hamels out of the line up in the top of the 8th. They were in need of runs (with this loss the Phillies have gone 21 innings without scoring). This gamble did not pay off. In fact the Phillies paid for it in the bottom of the inning when the Phillies pitching just feel apart. Back to back double from Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth, a wild pitch which allowed Werth to score lead to 3 runs being scored.

In came Rafael Soriano for the save in the 9th. Two balls were hit to Adam LaRoche that produced outs. The first one was pretty routine. The second was anything but. LaRoche made this amazing leap and caught the ball. If he hadn’t it would have definitely been an extra base hit.

In all a great day at Nats’ Park.





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