As promised, the Washington Nationals sat down their young phenom Stephen Strasburg even though the team finds itself in the middle of an NL East pennant race.
This should come as no surprise as MLB considered it breaking news in their tweets.
If there is one thing I noticed about the Nationals this season is that, although they have dominant pitching and they say pitching wins ball games, they also have a tough lineup that should be able to carry them through the remaining month of the season.
At first, I thought the Nationals would not survive without Strasburg, but with Jordan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez at the helm of the rotation, a team really only needs a powerful 1-2 punch when in the playoffs. A combination of Zimmerman, Gonzalez and Strasburg would have been devastating, which is why I do not understand the decision to shut down Strasburg at such a pivotal time of the year.
Atlanta Braves' Freddi Gonzalez even sounded off in regards to their use of young right-hander Kris Medlen, saying that the wins and innings pitch matter more at the end of the season than in beginning.
Maybe the Nationals did not see themselves as true competitors in the East as the Miami Marlins had a bolstered lineup and rotation after blockbuster summer additions.
Now whether the Nationals handled his playing time poorly is obviously out of the question. Looking forward the only question that should be asked is, Can the Nationals Win?
I believe they can because the team can score runs and pitch.
They are tenth in average, eighth in home runs, eleventh in on-base percentage and ninth in runs.
Their pitching is up there in all the major categories, innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA. They are Top 5 in the major leagues in these categories.
Their pitching core now will revolve around Edwin Jackson, Ross Detwiler, Gonzalez and Zimmerman. Zack Duke was asked to help out, the former Pittsburgh Pirate, as he was called up from Triple-A Syracuse. He recently tossed four innings of one-run ball.
The Nationals currently hold a 6.5 game lead over the second-place Atlanta Braves. Unless their team has a huge collapse, they should be able to lock up the NL East in first place.
