Thursday, August 30, 2012

Storen happy to thrive in setup role

US Presswire photo
Drew Storen and Kurt Suzuki confer during the eighth inning on Wednesday.
Drew Storen has pitched in plenty of pressure situations during his three major-league seasons, most of them coming in the ninth inning with his team clinging to a slim lead.

Something about Wednesday night's appearance, though, felt more significant than perhaps any of the 146 previous ones Storen made for the Nationals. Even though it occurred in the eighth inning.

Summoned by manager Davey Johnson to face the heart of the Marlins' lineup with two runners in scoring position and the Nationals leading 6-4, Storen proceeded to retire all three batters he faced and hold that lead heading into the ninth.

Was that an especially big outing for the 25-year-old reliever?
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5 comments:

A DC Wonk said...

"I think the biggest thing for me was I didn't get over-amped.

Hey -- I'm thrilled for Drew, and he did a great job last night.

But did anybody, watching the game, see what I saw - many times KSuz setting up for a low outside pitch, and Drew throwing a high inside pitch? (Not to mention that pitch down the middle of the plate to Stanton).

So, frankly, I think Drew (and the Nats) were pretty darn lucky. Yes, I know, luck is often a part of it. But I think Drew _was_ overamped for some of his pitches.

Nevertheless, he pitched well enough so that, with the luck he got, he got out of an amazing jam.

How often do you see men on 2d and 3rd and no out, and end up scoring no runs? That's gotta be pretty rare!

NatsLady said...

Absolutely. In the video Storen said his slider wasn't there yet, but he still used it and hung a couple. Really got lucky. (Not to mention almost beaning a guy.)

Fascinating situation. Top closer learning how to be a fireman/setup, and vice-versa.

RickH said...

Druuuuuuu!!!!!

sjm308 said...

What could be huge for this team is if we can actually rest Clip for a couple of saves in this last month and enter the playoffs with the entire pen in decent shape. This was the Braves downfall last year and they used all of their big 3 so many times that they had nothing left the last few weeks of the season. I think we have enough variety out there to make sure that does not happen. I will be looking to Burnett to bounce back because his last two outings have been rough to say the least and he is another key for us.

Go Nats!!

SonnyG10 said...

Glad Drew is not bitter at this point. He can compete for closer job next year. Meanwhile, we need him as setup and alternate closer now.

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