What's next for Max Scherzer?

Following yesterday's 6-0 shutout win in which Doug Fister extended a franchise-best record of scoreless innings by Washington Nationals starters to 41 1/3 innings, outfielder Clint Robinson was asked what he expects when Max Scherzer takes the hill in Philadelphia tonight.

"I don't know," Robinson said with a look of amazement as reporters laughed. "What do you guys think? I'd expect the same thing he did last time."

That's the level that Scherzer is pitching at these days after tossing back-to-back showstopping performances - a 16-strikeout, one-hit complete game shutout in Milwaukee and a nearly perfect no-hitter against the Pirates six days ago at Nationals Park.

"Of course you're proud of it," Scherzer said. "It's a huge accomplishment to be able to do that, but you also realize that as good as I've been over the past two games, my season's not going to be defined by this. Your season is defined by 33 starts and what you do within those 33 starts, so the fact that I've had two really good ones doesn't mean anything ... over the course of a season. I know what it takes to have success and how hard it is to have success at this level. My mission now is to finish out the rest of the year as well as I can, and it starts on Friday facing the Phillies and that's going to be a tough challenge."

The Phillies must be cursing the scheduling gods because tonight will be the fourth time already they've found Scherzer's spot in the rotation. They haven't fared too well with the Nationals winning all three of Scherzer's previous starts. Scherzer allowed just a single run in each of those outings while striking out 23 and walking only three in a combined 22 innings.

The expectations from Scherzer's teammates is understandable with the bar he has set, not only his last two times taking the mound, but with his staggering entire body of work this season. He's second in the majors with 123 strikeouts, eight fewer than Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, but in one less start. Scherzer's 1.76 ERA is also the second-best mark in the big leagues.

"You just have to refocus and not get complacent," Scherzer said. "You can't think that success just happens and you can walk out on the mound and you can have success. No. Success comes from hard work, from doing everything in the weight room to going out and running going out, doing everything you've got to prepare in the bullpens and making sure that your pitches are sharp, and you've got to be focused to be able to do that. I've had two really good starts."

It's a fair bet that Scherzer will extend the starters' scoreless inning streak tonight. If he can blank the Phillies through four innings, the Nationals will pass the 2008 Indians rotation that made it 44 1/3 innings without surrendering a run. That would give the Nationals the second-best streak in the expansion era only behind Baltimore's 54 consecutive scoreless inning stretch in 1974.

But Scherzer insists there is no inner competition inside the members of the Nats rotation with this run of the zeros they've put up.

"It's not like that," Scherzer said. "It's just we're all on the same page and we're all throwing the ball well right now. We all pull for each other. We all want each other to have success, and it's good to see everybody throwing the ball well at once because when the starting staff goes, that's when the rest of the team goes. That's when you get winning streaks. The starting staff is the backbone of any team. That's what makes a team go and when you get quality starts from everybody, that's what allows for winning streaks."

The Nationals' winning streak stands at six, tied for their longest of the season. They enter Philadelphia with the best record in the NL East, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Mets and looking down at the Phillies, who are 14 1/2 games behind in the cellar.

Without doubt, all eyes in the baseball world will be on Scherzer tonight to see what he can deliver with in his next act.