Strasburg on August 5. (Photo by MudflapDC)
September 12 will be a momentous day in America. Apple is releasing the iPhone 5.
Wait, that’s not it.
On September 12, Stephen Strasburg will make his final appearance of the 2012 season, the Nationals announced Sunday after their 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Strasburg pitched six scoreless innings in the start, bringing his season total to 156 and 1/3. With two starts remaining, it appears Strasburg will likely finish the year having thrown nearly 170 innings, right in the middle of the 160-180 comfort zone General Manager Mike Rizzo often alluded to but never confirmed.
Strasburg’s last game of the year—let’s call it Strasmageddon—will be at Citi Field against the New York Mets; his final home start will be Friday against the Miami Marlins. (Best of luck on StubHub.)
Assuming his last two starts are consistent with his season to date, Strasburg will finish with over 200 strikeouts and an earned run average under 3. But as much as observers from far away disagree with the move, the Nationals—and most of their fans—are confident benching Strasburg now is the right move.
Not that there hasn’t been any internal handwringing. Strasburg has been public about his reluctance about being cut from the rotation as the Nationals (barring utter disaster) head to their first post-season appearance. Manager Davey Johnson admitted just as much philosophical uncertainty at a press conference yesterday after the meeting in which the Nationals gave Strasburg the shutdown order.
“I’m not sure any of us understand. But it’s the right thing to do,” he told reporters.
But onward go the Nationals. And though they won’t have Strasburg in October, Nationals fans remain confident about their playoff chances. The Post’s Thomas Boswell, one of the most vocal backers of Strasmageddon, is putting his stock in Ross Detweiler, who has powered through opposing lineups with a very respectable 3.15 earned run average and a fastball that clocks in at 97 miles per hour:
Detwiler’s delivery is graceful, flowing, almost languid, until his rising fastball zooms through the top of the strike zone at 94 to 97 mph, or his sinker, an even tougher pitch, dives at hitters’ knees just a blink less quickly. No other pitcher in baseball can throw his two fastballs so frequently, 80 percent of the time, simply daring hitters to cope with them and yet still flourish. In fact, when the Nats coaches encouraged him to trust his smoke after the break, he went fastball crazy, throwing 89 percent heat in nine straight starts, including 155 fastballs in 162 pitches in back-to-back starts.
And though Strasburg will soon be gone, Boz’s colleague Mike Wise pointed out over the weekend that the remaining rotation of Detweiler, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Jackson is plenty formidable. John Lannan will get a few starts to finish out the regular season, but those first four will make a frightening schedule for the Nationals’ eventual playoff opponents. And Strasburg probably won’t have such a ceiling next season, when the Nats will most likely be defending the National League East title (and perhaps other accomplishments.)
So though it was short-lived, we are retiring the Stephen Strasburg Doomsday Clock. There are just two more starts to relish; after Strasmageddon we can just focus on the team at large and let the out-of-town sports radio hosts (i.e., gasbags on WFAN) badger the decision as the Nationals make quick work out of their hometown teams.
