Nationals Baseball: So what's the problem now?

Friday, May 17, 2013

So what's the problem now?

He should have shut them out? He didn't go 9? He didn't go strikeout strikeout after the error?

20 comments:

BlueLoneWolf said...

Can't underestimate the effect of playing in front of friends and family. Stras wanted to gut the Padres, and he pretty much accomplished it. Better news was that it wasn't wasted in an ND because he got some run support.

cass said...

He pitched the same as he's pitched all year, pretty much. This time, things broke his way rather than against him.

I would've liked to see more strikeouts, though, yeah. He seems a notch down overall from last year, unless he can find a way to compensate for or regain the missing K's.

Of course, the K's were back during his last start and he looked better than he ever has since TJ, but then he seemed to run out of steam in the fifth. People can buy into the "not picking up his teammates" narrative all they want, but take a look at the velocity chart for the game and you might see a different story, unless he decided to just not throw as hard cause Zimmerman made an error.

But he's pitching well, if not quite at the best-in-baseball level. His change-up is certainly a thing of beauty.

Eric said...

Now you're just being petulant, Harper ;).

Erich said...

There is no problem.

The problem has been the offense. Until that comes around, (some are picking up) the team is going to struggle to retake the NL East. Not impossible, but maybe less of a given than we all thought in March.

Anonymous said...

Well said Harper. People will find something to complain about.

Sirc said...

"Anonymous said...
Well said Harper. People will find something to complain about. "

According to MLB Network, Werth missed his scheduled rehab start at Potomac due to hamstring tightness (and pain, though that part was just said out loud and not in the written notation).

So there's that.

Anonymous said...

What's the problem now? It wasnt dominating. It came against a fair-to-middling team, and that's being charitable. Matt Harvey, Jose Fernandez and many others I'm too unplugged to recall and too lazy to research have all pitched better games this yaer. It's a matter of expectations. The sooner we all realize this is who he is - a really good pitcher - the better. If he can string a few of these together at some point this year, against tougher competition, regardless of the stakes (how will he do come September? October), then we can all reevaluate him over the offseason.

Kenny B. said...

The problem is that it was the Padres. But you take what you can get, and hopefully it's a confidence pick-me-up for everyone.

Also, LaRoche is absolutely crushing the ball. Those are big parks he's hitting in, and he's doing it around centerfield.

Another thing to look forward to: Bryce in the HR derby? That could be a lot of fun.

ocw5000 said...

If we follow the same ZNN:Stras::Desmond:Espy paradigm of one being developmentally a year behind the other, Stras is going to have a solid but not dominant year and then put it all together in 2014. I am cool with this.

Unfortunately for this theory to work, Espinosa needs to hit .563 with 89 HR the rest of the year.

Dr Trea (formerly #werthquake) said...

As rotoworld said, if we were all judged as harshly as Stras, we would all be unemployed.

That said, I know this is probably because we're spoiled with him, but 4:3 k:bb ratio is pretty ugly. I guess it was "dominant" considering the runs given up and few hits, but you know what they say...you can luck into a hit by contact, but not when you strikeout. Against the friars I would've expected a more thoroughly dominant, double digit or neard double digit K performance.

All that said, I'll take this performance any day of the week.

blovy8 said...

Hey, Verlander gave up like 8 runs recently, maybe he really is just trying to emulate him.

blovy8 said...

I am so tired of the sacrifice bunt teasing. Square up, pull it back, strike called. Repeat ad nauseum. Feh. I had to watch a friggin little league game full of it last night, only to get home to watch Strasburg doing it.

Screw the fastball command, I'm done with that guy until he starts hitting better than a bum like Espy!

Anonymous said...

only throwing 97 in the 8th and he can't stop Zim from committing errors. Weak.

If Gio can build off his last start... wow this top three might finally be hitting its stride (well, JZim has been there all along, and I'll grant stras a dubious sub 3 ERA)

cass said...

I think the real question with Strasburg is "Where have all the strikeouts gone?"

His K% this year is 23.3%. That's lower than any previous month in his entire career. Last year, for the whole season, he put ip a K% of 30.2%. That's a pretty striking change.

On the otherhand, his LD% is at 16.5% and that's much lower than any individual month last year and much lower than the 22.7% he put up for the 2012 season. The problem is that K% stablizes a lot faster than LD% so it's far more likely to be real. His BABIP is also much better and that's likely related.

I'm saying his pitching results may get much worse if that K% stays as it is but the line drives and BABIP start rising. That would be the conventional analysis of these numbers.

Anonymous said...

Listen, people. Stras is a really good pitcher. Nothing more, nothing less. It's ok. Very very few baseball fans get to cheer for a once in a generation pitching talent and there's no shame in being lumped in with the masses who miss out on this privilege.

Dcnatty said...

Strikes out the side...why do the Nate make every opposing pitcher look like cy young. Damn, they are painful to watch right now. Can't do anything right

Dcnatty said...

Espinosa for smith. We need a pitcher since det is hurt

Zimmerman11 said...

goon squad! it's about fricken time! :)

Dcnatty said...

That was horrendous. 4 hits vs a guy who can't hit 90 on the gun. Wow. Prediction: they'll get no hit twice against SF.

Froggy said...

Like I said 5-5 this trip. Wadda ya think Harem and zack duke or some other unknown along with the torrid hitting of Moore, Lombo, and Espi are going to carry us ?