21 days on the nose since his last start Strasburg took the mound last night and, well, got hit. Hard. He gave up 6 hits and 6 earned runs (thought the last run was courtesy of Batista allowing his inherited runner to score).
4Ks and 2 walks but he was behind most of the hitters and went 3-2 more than a few times.
Those 6 hits were no flukes. All of them were extra bases.
– A homer by Uggla (who hit a 1-2 fastball up and in and lined it into the stands. Great swing, no mistake here.).
– A bullet of a double by Hanley Ramirez (he hit a first pitch fastball that was right down the heart of the plate the other way over the RF’s head).
– Another well hit ball by Uggla for another double (he sat on a 2-1 fastball and swung hard on it).
– Another bullet by Stanton (who sat on a 2-0 fastball and tattooed it into the leftfield corner).
– Hanley hitting a hanging 0-2 curveball for a double into left field (definitely a mistake pitch).
– finally, Gabby Sanchez hit a 1-1 ball on a line to left field. Scored a double but should have been an error on Willingham, who gloved it but a good fielder easily makes that catch going backwards over their head.
So, what happened? It all comes down to one primary reason: Strasburg had Zero feel for any of his pitches besides his 4-seam fastball, and even that was all over the place. For the first time in his starts i saw a MPH reading of 101, but he couldn’t control it. He threw six or seven curves before getting one called for a strike. His 2-seamer kept missing the plate low. He had so little feel for his circle-change that he only threw it once in the first 4 innings.
So he keeps running up the fastball. Constantly behind in the count. By the 5th inning it was clear that he was throwing it slower just to get it over (aiming it almost) and that’s why he got the yank. This is a good hitting team. Hanley Ramierez, Gabby Sanchez, Uggla, and Stanton did the damage. He walked a .234 hitter twice and both times it led to Uggla getting a 2 out atbat that he shouldn’t have had. But what we saw is that good hitters, if they know what is coming and can sit on the fastball, can hit the fastball no matter how fast it is going.
In the end, it is all rustiness. He’ll probably be dominant again in his next start (Sunday 1:35pm game at Nats park against Arizona).
your cub reporter,
boss