LITTLE ROCK — After suffering his first major league defeat, 1-0 to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday, Washington Nationals rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg is starting to learn how Walter Johnson felt.
No one in big league history ever won as many 1-0 games as Johnson (38) or lost as many 1-0 games (26).So, the way the Nationals have been hitting lately, Strasburg might have to learn to cope the same way the old Senators pitcher did a century ago. If the team with “Washington” on its chest won’t help you much, just keeptrying to rise above ’em.
If anything, the way Strasburg has reacted to this nonsupport has impressed his manager and teammates even more. In two consecutive pitchers’ duels, his competitiveness and ability to stifle rallies with clutch pitches have demonstrated his heart. They already knew about his stuff, command, poise and maturity. Now they know he’s a fighter, too.
“The Royals have the highest batting average [in the big leagues] and Stephen competed with less than his best stuff today. They know how to hit. They got nine [singles]. But when it was gut-check time with men on base, he reached back and got a little extra,” Manager Jim Riggleman said. “This time, he was really good. The other times, he’s been spectacular. He’s just a treasure.”
In his previous start, Strasburg faced the Chicago White Sox, the hardest team in baseball to strike out, yet left after seven innings with a 1-1 tie and 10 strikeouts. On Wednesday against Kansas City, the second-hardest team to strike out, he left after six innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. In his three starts at Nationals Park, Strasburg has 33 strikeouts and no walks.
Since they first saw Strasburg in spring training, the Nationals have been stingy with compliments and comparisons, trying not to praise a rookie too much too soon. But, perhaps his proof of heart, or their inability to help him in the least, loosened their tongues. The Royals have many flaws, but they are as good a slap-hitting team as the sport provides. And they followed their plan perfectly with two infieldhits, three singles poked through the middle and four more singles plunked to the opposite field.
Yet it got them only one run as Strasburg lowered his ERA to 1.78 and set a record for most strikeouts in the first four games of a career (41), topping Herb Score (40 in 1955).
Strasburg impresses his mates with his sense of baseball appropriateness. Asked for his reaction to a report that his rookie baseball card was going on eBay for $101,000, Strasburg said: “Let’s focus on the game. It was a tough loss for us.”
But the he can still improve. He lost this game, rather than leaving it 0-0, because he simply threw too many strikes - especially at the wrong times. In the fifth inning, it cost him. With one on and two outs, he got quick 0-2 counts on the Royals’ 4-5 batters, Billy Butler and Josi Guillin. That’s the time to expand the plate and get ’em to chase.Yet Strasburg threw back-to-back strikes to Butler and Guillin. A soft single by Butler, then a line hit by Guillin produced the only run.
Strasburg knows better, but all his instincts are to attack. “His intent was correct,” Riggleman said. “But he didn’t get some of those pitches quite where he wantedthem.”
Even when he loses, Strasburg shows some new element in his pitching makeup, like allowing nine Royals hits but giving up only one run. In his previous start, he struck out six White Sox with his changeup - his worst pitch a year ago.
“Stephen didn’t have a real good change-up in college, but [pitching coaches] Spin Williams, Randy Tomlin and Greg Booker helped him refine it,” General Manager Mike Rizzo said. “Now, it has hellacious late movement. It’s one of the things that separates him.”
With each start, some tiny Strasburg nuance gets polished. Cover first base a hair faster (White Sox). Use more “chase” pitches on 0-2 to heart-of-the-order hitters (Royals).
But, for the most part, Strasburg has already “separated himself” so much from other pitchers that, when he has an off day, when his fastball tops at 98, not 100, when he gets dinked for nine singles, this is what it looks like: a 1-0 loss that leaves both teams raving.
“The only thing he hasn’t done is prove himself over a long period of time,” Riggleman said. “It’s not his fault he just got here.”
Sports, Pages 20 on 06/25/2010