Nationals Baseball: Some random facts I tossed out last night

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Some random facts I tossed out last night

  • Most K's in a debut? JR Richard and the immortal Karl Spooner ('54 Dodgers) with 15
  • Most K's in debut since aforementioned JR Richard with 15 in 1971, only 2 other pitchers with 14 or more. For those doubting my "might lead the Nats by All-Star break" statement, reliever Clippard leads Nats with 46. Best for a non-injured starter is Livan with 30.
  • A little bit on 15 K debut man Karl Spooner from wikipedia - "Although he only started two games (in 1954) on the mound for the Dodgers, Spooner, compiled two complete game shutouts, throwing all 18 innings, giving up 7 total hits and no runs" Take that Strasburg! (Spooner would have a severe pitching injury the next Spring Training and never really pitch effectively again)
  • As bad as Pittsburgh's lineup may be - they've only struck out more than 14 times in a game once this year and that was in 14 innings
  • Again - just an amazing start for Strasburg. Outside of the aberrant 4th inning he was completely dominating - pitched 6 innings with 1 hit, 14Ks, and no runs. Struck out the last 7 batters he faced, 8 of the last 9, the last 2 on 6 pitches total.

6 comments:

Bryan said...

The kid certainly appears to be the real deal. What I liked (and what I haven't heard said) is that he looked stronger and better as the game went on.

One thing I was interested to see was how he reacted ot getting hit late in the game. Not only did he go "lights out" after that with 6 strikeouts, but that was what, his 3rd time through the lineup. That's pretty impressive.

Wow indeed.

Harper said...

A minor quibble - I don't think he looked stronger the second time around the lineup. Maybe he was falling into a predictable pattern or something but Pittsburgh looked far more comfortable the second time around. That makes the 3rd time around that much more impressive. Whatever was the issue the second time through the lineup (3 of the 4 hits, only 2 Ks) he corrected for and began dominating again. That's a fantastic thing to see.

Bryan said...

Ok, I agree, the second time around wasn't "fantastic." Still, a good first time around, fair second time, and great third trip is pretty nice. Its a minor quibble, as you say.

And yeah, that he was so overpowering the third time around is impressive. He was able to reassert his dominance.

I would chalk the second time around problems to 1 of 2 things: A) he came off the "first start" high and lost some focus or the Pirates got over the "awe" and were able to do their best, only to have Strasburg redominate. Either way, impressive.

The next step is to go around the league once and see how he does the second trip through there.

Anonymous said...

Of course any Cubs fan can tell you Mark Prior came out as a great prospect out of college, debuted against the Pirates, struck out 10 in 6 innings. Things were
not so great a few seasons later.


Here is hoping that history does not repeat itself because last night was something else.

Bryan said...

Anon - well, listen, of course, injuries can happen. Prior isn't the first, and he won't be the last to lose a great career to injuries.

I'm just not sure what relevance it has to the conversation. Roy Halladay or Jimenez could be getting hit by a bus right this moment, doesn't make their greatness any less.

Bryan said...

By they way, are the Pirates the Nats of 2007 (and thus the Reds of 2003?).

I saw Milledge, Church and Hanrahan. I wasn't sure for a couple moments which team I was supposed to root for.