+1
Strasburg went six innings bringing a nasty change up and heat that stayed in the 97-99 mph area.
The Florida Marlins always seem to have the Washington Nationals number. Friday night was no exception as the Marlins were able to shutout the Nats 3-0 at Nationals Park. Florida leads the season series between the two teams 9-4 and are 13-3 at Nationals Park since 2010. The Fish smell blood in the water and circling in for the series kill Saturday night, but they are going to have to face the deadly harpoon of Washington's Ahab.
Stephen Strasburg (0-0, 1.13 ERA) will be taking the mound for his third start of the 2011 looking to change the tide in the series. Strasburg is looking for his first win since coming back from Tommy John surgery recovery. In his last outing he went three innings against the Houston Astros and threw 57 total pitches. He was pulled before his pitch count was up (he was set at 70) by manager Davey Johnson who was concerned the heat was reason for Strasburg's fastball losing effectiveness and a drop in velocity. The young ace pitcher assures everyone he is fine and is ready to go wishing he didn't have a pitch limit.
Jayson Werth and Michael Morse both return to the line up Saturday after having a night off. If the Nationals can pull off one more home win it will set a new single-season mark for home victories. Right now the Nationals have 41 in 2011.
Strasburg and the Nats do battle with Chris Volstad (5-12, 5.31 ERA) and the Marlins at 7:05 P.M.
Nationals Line Up
Ian Desmond - SS
Roger Bernadina - RF
Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
Michael Morse - LF
Jayson Werth - CF
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Chris Marrero - 1B
Wilson Ramos - C
Stephen Strasburg - SP
Marlins Vs. Nationals Final:Stephen Strasburg Sensational, But Nationals Lose To Marlins In 13-Innings
It took 13-innings, but by the time it was all over, the Washington Nationals lost a hard fought game to the Florida Marlins 4-1. It is the second consecutive loss for the Nationals at the hands of the Marlins who continue to have D.C.'s number.
It seems that not even having Stephen Strasburg pitching and throwing heat is enough to inspire the Nats to do something against their fishy NL East rivals. Strasburg, in his third start of 2011, was once again magnificent. He pitched 61 pitches, 45 for strikes in six innings of work. He gave up only one run on four hits, walking none and striking out three. The run came off an Omar Infante sac fly in the third. Strasburg was dominant, fooling Marlins hitters with his change up and staying in the 97-99 mph range. He then wowed the crowd and his teammates with a five-pitch fifth inning and an eight-pitch sixth.
Unfortunately the Nationals did not support Strasburg's fantastic performance. The offense did little against Florida's Chris Volstad aside from a Wilson Ramos solo home run in the fifth. The Nationals used five relievers trying to wait for the offense to break the game in Washington's favor, but it never happened. In the 13th inning reliever Collin Balester gave up a two-run home run to Donnie Murphy and a double to Mike Stanton to give the Fish the game.
Sep 17 11:28p by Andrew Kinback