Strasburg impresses Williams, teammates in Nats' win

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg pitched a gem today. He was perfect through the first 4 2/3 innings before allowing a two-out single to Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz in the fifth. The three runs the Nats would get in the bottom of the inning would be all they would need, as they went on to win 4-1 and capture their first series of the season.

Strasburg was dominant throughout the afternoon, allowing just the one run on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

"You know, that may be as good as I've seen him," said Nationals manager Matt Williams. "He pitched at 92, 93 (mph) and was able to reach back when he needed it for 95-plus. I think, for me, that makes his changeup even more effective. Today, he threw it for strikes when he wanted to, out of the zone when he needed to, so I don't know if I've seen him better than that."

"Pitch count was down. If he didn't give up that run there and he still had no runs against him, he may have gone back out, so really good. As good as I've seen him."

The Mets and Red Sox banged Strasburg around in his first two starts as the 26-year-old gave up 11 runs on 19 hits in just 10 2/3 innings. Strasburg was far more resourceful today, mixing up his pitches and relying on that nasty changeup.

"You just work on things," said Strasburg. "You try and remember what the keys are, what you try and do with a pitch, where you want to execute it. You just gotta try and paint that picture in your head and go out there and just let it go."

Strasburg worked quickly and was ahead of the Phillies all day as he continued to pressure them with his entire repertoire.

"It's difficult when he's throwing them all for strikes," said Williams. "He did today. He can throw first-pitch curveball, first-pitch changeups for strikes, so all of those add to it. As a hitter, you stand in there and go, 'He's throwing them all for strikes, I need to be aggressive.' They get behind. They early swing."

"If they're not swinging, they take it and it's a strike, and it's important. But his ability to throw all of them for strikes is important to him going forward because he can throw any of them at any point and steal himself a strike in that count."

Shortstop Ian Desmond's double in the fifth plated the Nats' first run. His bat is sizzling - after a 2-for-3 performance, Desmond is now batting .542 over the last six games. Now in his sixth season playing behind the tall righty, he agreed with Williams' assessment of Strasburg.

"That's one of the better times I've seen him pitch," Desmond said. "He had all the pitches and the curveball to both sides of the plate. He was bouncing it when he needed to. He was really sharp today."

Center fielder Denard Span made his season debut and his fifth-inning single ignited the two-out rally that provided three runs. He had a great view for Strasburg's impressive performance, standing directly behind him about 150 feet away.

"He looked good," said Span. "He was commanding the fastball and keeping those guys off-balance with his split-change. I think that was his money pitch today. It looked just like a fastball coming off his hand and guys were swinging over top of it."

The win even's Strasburg's record at 1-1 and lowers his season ERA to 4.50.

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman collected two more RBIs to increase his team-leading total to 11. His fifth-inning double stretches his streak to four straight games with an extra-base hit. He was excited to see Strasburg in attack mode this afternoon.

"I thought he went after the guys today," said Zimmerman. "To see him in the seventh, eighth inning area with only 80 pitches is good because, obviously, it's tough for strikeout guys like him to keep their pitch count low. For him to go out and kind of force the issue on them, whether they want to swing early or get behind 0-1, which is not good against him, it's obviously good to see."