Strasburg and the Nationals defeat the Braves 4-1

Stephen Strasburg (photo by Nir Levy)

Stephen Strasburg absolutely dominated the Atlanta Braves and earned his 15th win of the season in breathtaking fashion.  Strasburg's Washington Nationals defeated the Braves 4-1, improving their record to an MLB best 77-46 and taking a season high 7 game lead over the Braves in the NL East.  According to coolstandings.com, the Nationals now have a 99.8% chance of qualifying for the playoffs.  Postseason baseball has not been played in the nation's capital since 1933.

Stephen Strasburg (photo by Nir Levy)

Strasburg tossed 10 dazzling strikeouts in 6 innings to pad his league leading strikeout total and lower his ERA to a minuscule 2.85.  The right hander overpowered the Braves with a devastating arsenal of pitches that included a fastball that averaged a blistering 96.2 mph, a changeup that routinely tops 90-91 mph and a knee-buckling curveball.  The torrid speed of Strasburg's fastball helped disguise his similarly scorching changeup, which he threw 8 times in the game for 4 strikeouts.  Strasburg's performance is especially impressive given that he was forced to deal with the second rain delay of his career.  The game was paused for 51 minutes after the second inning due to heavy rainfall.  If the delay had spanned a mere 10 minutes longer, manager Davey Johnson would have removed Strasburg from the game.

Ian Desmond (photo by Nir Levy)

Strasburg received plenty of run support from his teammates who ensured he would walk away with yet another curly W.  The Nationals have suddenly become one of the league's top offenses, leading the majors in runs scored since the all-star break.  Shortstop Ian Desmond belted a towering home run in the 2nd inning for the first run of the game.  Desmond leads all shortstops with 19 home runs despite having missed a month this season due to an oblique injury.  In the 5th inning catcher Jesus Flores brought home Desmond and first baseman Adam Laroche with a 3-run homer to put the game out of reach.  It was Flores' first home run in nearly two months.

Jesus Flores (photo by Nir Levy)

Strasburg has now pitched over 145 innings this season and is rapidly approaching his widely discussed "shutdown day."  Nationals' general manager Mike Rizzo has repeatedly declared that Strasburg will be shut down for the season once he reaches an innings total of between 160 and 180.  This is Strasburg's second season back from Tommy John surgery, which was performed in order to repair a torn ligament in his elbow. Standard medical procedure states that a pitcher should be limited in his first two seasons back from the surgery.

All photos in this post were taken by me, Nir Levy.