A long day for Strasburg, in a good way

FLUSHING, N.Y. - The Nationals have gotten very little done at the plate today, but Stephen Strasburg is doing plenty to distract from Washington's poor offensive showing. Strasburg went deeper into a game today, in terms of pitches, than he has at any point in his professional career. The righty has been pulled from today's game after going six shutout innings, having allowed two hits and a walk. It took Strasburg 108 pitches to get through his six frames, marking the first time since he was drafted in 2009 that Strasburg has topped the 100-pitch mark. He previously threw 99 pitches on June 16, 2010 in a win over the Marlins. Strasburg struck out nine Mets hitters, and worked his way out of first- and sixth-inning jams to finish with a scoreless outing. Of Strasburg's 108 pitches, 63 were strikes. Just an exceptional performance by a guy who has given more than a few exceptional performances already in his young career. I didn't expect him to throw 108 pitches this early in the season, but manager Davey Johnson felt comfortable leaving Strasburg out there to finish the sixth. We've got a 2-0 ballgame entering the bottom of the seventh, as the Nats were able to tack across an insurance run in the top half of the frame on their second attempt with the bases loaded. In the sixth, three straight walks to open the inning filled the bases, but Xavier Nady lined into a double play and Jesus Flores flied out to center to end the frame. In the seventh, however, an Ian Desmond double and two more walks loaded 'em up, and Mark DeRosa was able to grind out another walk to plate a run.