(ed. note - "In case you missed this on Saturday...")
Warmup -
- This was Stephen's 5th start tonight and unfortunately it was the first in which he did not receive a decision. He left with a lead but the bullpen gave up the lead late. It marks the first game started by Strasburg this season that the Aztecs have lost.
- Update to possible injury: After recording the first two outs in the 7th, the trainer came out to talk to Stephen. I have no idea why he came out, but after getting the final batter out, Stephen did not return to the game. He was under 100 pitches so it must have been precautionary, I'll let you know if I hear anything else.
- Nice crowd again tonight. The stadium's capacity is probably around 2,500 and there was a little over 2,000 tonight. The first 500 fans got Strasburg jersey t-shirts but I missed it and I'm pissed. Oh well. You'll probably be able to get the Nationals jersey soon enough.
Stats -
Aztecs 2 runs on 9 hits and 0 errors
Cougars 4 runs on 8 hits and 1 error
WP: Blake Torgerson (2-2)
LP: Andrew Leary (0-1)
S: Jordan Muir (4)
Stephen Strasburg -
7 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 25 BF, 15 Ks.
0.00 ERA, 19.3 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 7.5 K/BB, 0.57 WHIP.
Season -
Stephen Strasburg - (4-0), 34.1 IP, 74 Ks, 20 H, 6 ER, 7 BB,
1.57 ERA, 19.4 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 10.6 K/BB, 0.79 WHIP.
Analysis
There really isn't much to say because Stephen pretty much struck everything in sight out tonight. Everything was working. The fastball, the slider, the curveball, the change-up; you name it. He actually is pretty predictable, which is funny because still nobody can hit him. Fastball Fastball Offspeed. That's pretty much the three pitches every batter sees right before they trudge back to the dugout. If they spit on the breaking stuff outside he'll go upstairs with a fastball to strike them out swinging. Sometimes he'll throw the slider down the middle for the strikeout looking. He really can put any pitch at any location at any time. He only faced 25 batters tonight and struck out 15 of them. Two of them were weak ground balls up the middle which were the only hits he gave up. Two of them were walks which is a little surprising. The umpire did have a pretty small strike zone. He was under 100 pitches through 7 and it looked like he was going to breeze through nine until the trainer came out in the 7th and he was done. Hopefully it was just a minor precaution. I THINK it has to do with his leg from last game so hopefully that was it. I will let you know if I hear anything else. The usually solid bullpen promptly gave up the lead and the offense couldn't respond. Oh well. Now 3-2 in conference play and 11-8 overall.
Inning by Inning - Once again there really isn't much here because not many people got on base.
1st. - K, K, and K.
2nd - K, fly out, K.
3rd. Fly out, K, K.
4th. Weak grounder up the middle, probably could have gotten to it. K. Ground out Ground out.
5th. K, K, Walk (Very Close to a K), K.
6th. K, Walk and a single. (Closest he got to trouble. But oh wait), K, K.
7th. K, Ground out...(This is where the trainer came out. The whole team came in as if they were discussing strategy. Weird.)... Flyout.
Next Game Stephen will pitch is April 3rd at PETCO park versus UC Davis. Be there or be from the East Coast!