Manager Jim Riggleman announced this afternoon that Strasburg will start the Nats' first game coming out of the break (July 16 at the Marlins). He'll then stay on a regular, five-game schedule, just like everyone else in the rotation."The whole thought early-on was that we would stretch him out, with [extra] days between quite often, so that he would pitch through September," Riggleman said. "We've decided not to do that, to just pitch him. And when the innings are done, they're done. If that falls at the end of August or early September, that will be it."
Strasburg, whose combined innings count between the majors and minors sits at 92 entering tonight's start against the Giants, will be limited to about 160 total innings by season's end.
So Strasburg's scheduled starts for the next month look like this...*
July 16 at Marlins
July 21 at Reds
July 27 vs Braves
Aug. 1 vs Phillies
(*Please remember, as always, that these dates are tentative and can change because of weather, injuries and other unforeseen circumstances.)
So, what's the reason for the change in plans? As Riggleman explained, this is more about the effect this has on the rest of the clubhouse than it does on Strasburg.
"They want to win ballgames," the manager said. "And I think if we don't send out our best right on there early those first two days, then we're sending the wrong message to our ballclub. We want to win. Our players want to win. I think we need to send a message that we're going to try to finish up strong this weekend as best we can and open up as strong as we can after the break."
Thus, Livan Hernandez will follow Strasburg in Florida next weekend. The remaining three slots have been determined, but Riggleman said he doesn't want to reveal those yet in case the club decides to make any changes.
12 comments:
So my question is....What message does starting Willie Harris, Kennedy and Guz at SS send.....it is 3 days to a 4 day rest......Riggs is just an old fool when it comes to lineups....it will cost him his job this off season.
We are going into the second half with the rotation that we have now, unfortantly. Instead of taking three out of four from the Mets, Stammen has a melt down. Instead of seeping the Padres, Luis Atilano gives up six runs to weakest hitting team in the league. I hope we sweep the Giants; we should if our bats stay hot. But after the break, we're on another ten game road trip, which will determine if we have decent seson or not. All of us want to win 45 to 50 games in the next two and half month. In May, we went 3-7 on a road trip when we could have easily gone 7-3. The players want to win and know they if the starting rotation holds up. We have to sweep the Giants this weekend and we have to get off to a great start next Friday. We have to put our best out there. It's not much. But we have to put our faith and hope in Stras. GO NATS
I remember a few weeks ago when some were contemplating whether Strasburg would pitch in September if the Nats were in a pennant race.
At this point it is not a suprprise that he will not be stretched into September. I don't see any controversy here.
Strike'em out Stras!!!!
Yeah, but what about the international signings?
It might be nice to get JZimm by the time Stras gets shut down . . . and really nice if Stras and JZimm can be the #1 and #2 starters next year.
JMax scratched from SYR per Kilgore. Could be an injury, but he's been playing well so he could be on his way back. Interesting...
ps. This lineup is embarrassing.
Mark, you just made my week! I'm flying up with my girlfriend from the Bahamas to catch the series in Florida and see my first live Nats game ever, and now its gonna have Stras as the starter! Thank God i bought tickets yesterday! Thanks for the great news :)
Looking forward to the game against the Phillies. Big time.
DCJohn: If you're looking at runs scored, then Chicago, Houston, and Pittsburgh all have fewer runs scored per game. Houston and Pittsburgh also have lower batting averages, OPSes, and wOBAs. So they're bad, but not the worst in the league.
If Strasburg averages 6 IP per outing from here on out, he'll be at 120 IP on August 1, so he will probably get shut down around Labor Day weekend. Of course, it's silly to try and guess that date now...
So roughly 10 more starts for Strasburg.
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