Stay Hot

There's not much more to say other than stay hot. The Nats are 20-5 in their last 25 games and 27-18 overall. Their latest loss is yet again, another Strasburg start. Matt Williams has managed the bullpen nicely over this 25 game stretch. The hitting is better than we expected at this point, especially still without Werth and Rendon. The bullpen has settled down a bit and the team is looking good.

With that being said, the Nats are going to sooner or later deal with what's going on with Strasburg. They keep saying he's healthy and I 100% believe that. Strasburg sprained his ankle in Spring Training and as a result he tweaked his mechanics so that he was landing differently on his bad ankle. The problem is, the ankle has healed, but his mechanics haven't reverted to his old way. Unfortunately for Strasburg and the Nats, the only thing really left to do is to place Strasburg on the 15 day DL so that he can try and work on his mechanics in the bullpen. It's not beneficial for the Nats or for Strasburg for him to go out there every 5th day and give you a stat line of 4 innings pitched and 6 earned runs. It drains the Nationals bullpen and Strasburg's confidence goes plummeting each time that happens.

I need to reiterate this though - Strasburg IS NOT hurt, he would go on the DL to work this mechanical issue out. There's zero point in sending him down to the minors because his stuff alone would dominate batters down there and people would get excited that he's back to his old form. He's still throwing 96-97 when he wants to, his changeup and curve are fine as well. He is not seeing results because he is not locating his pitches. Having control and being able to locate are two completely different things. Stras has control, his walk rate is only a slight tick up from his career walk rate. He does not have the ability to locate right now though. When he's throwing that 96 MPH fastball down the middle, the control is there, he's throwing strikes. When Wilson Ramos is calling for that pitch to be down and in on the batter though, we see that he isn't locating. That right there is the difference between jamming a guy/striking a guy out and a homer. That's why a stint on the 15 day DL is beneficial for all, especially since we know Tanner Roark is ready to step in for whoever may need it. Side note - I'd like to once again make it known how awesome Tanner Roark is (1 win as a starting pitcher, a few holds out of the bullpen, and a save...all in the first 45 games of the season).

Fortunately, the guys are hot right now so there isn't much else to touch on at the moment. The Nats need a healthy Strasburg to reach their goal this year though. I love Gio and Fister just as much, if not more than most people do, but a playoff rotation headlined by a healthy Scherzer, Zimmermann, and Stras is pretty scary, especially if this team can keep the hitting up.

Bonus Talk:
In two separate series last week we got to see two hilarious things happen. First against the Yankees, we had the pleasure of seeing Marvin Hudson decide that he was going to be the star of the game. Hudson decided to toss Bryce Harper for not getting back into the batters box. It makes it even better that Harper was in the batters box, he stepped out only because Hudson wanted to jaw back at Matt Williams. Please note - Matt Williams is not even on the field, he's in the dugout, a normal umpire would ignore this. How dare you speak to Marvin Hudson though while he's working. If you're a National and you even have the audacity to ask Hudson where he's eating dinner later that night he will toss you. Hudson has a history with the Nationals, he made one of the worst calls I've seen a Major League umpire make in 2012 when he called Martin Prado safe at first on a play where Edwin Jackson made a throw to Adam LaRoche that beat Prado by 1 to 1 1/2 steps. My dog could have easily made the right call on thaqt play, that's how easy of a call it was. Look, if Marvin Hudson is from Montreal and is a former Expos fan, that's fine. He doesn't have to take it out on the Nats though. In all honesty, the guy should be banned from umpiring any future Nationals games, he clearly has something against the team.

Second hilarious moment of the week was when Ryne Sandberg made it known that he didn't like the Nationals music choice for the Phillies while they were taking batting practice. The Nats play a bunch of "soft" rock songs during the opponents batting practice, nobody has really taken offense or minded, except for Ryne Sandberg. Ryne, you're a great former Major Leaguer, your managing is unspectacular but that's more so because of what Ruben Amaro has screwed you with. Bottom line, worry about managing your awful team. You're 19-28 and 9 games out of the division already. Concentrate on winning games, or for that matter, staying competitive, not on what music is playing during batting practice. Tool.