Williams on Strasburg and more after Nats' 5-1 win
By Dan Kolko
Stephen Strasburg will go into the playoffs riding quite a hot streak.
He's not unlike his ballclub as a whole, in that regard.
Strasburg threw six scoreless innings today, allowing just two hits, walking a batter and striking out seven in picking up his 14th win of the season in the Nationals' 5-1 victory over the Marlins.
This gives Strasburg 20 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three starts, and he now has a 1.13 ERA over his last six outings.
Is that good?
Asdrubal Cabrera drove in three with a bases-clearing double, and Denard Span, Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos all had two hits in the win.
Here's Matt Williams after the game.
On Strasburg's outing: "Today was as good as he's been all month. Really good fastball, 96-97 miles an hour. Changeup and curveball to go with it. Throwing it where he wanted to. Just the same as he's been the last four or five starts. Really good."
On how good the rotation as a whole has been lately: "I think that they've been really good all year. Early in the year, there were some little hiccups, but they've been really good all year. They give us a chance to win every time they take the mound, and that's all we can ask."
On the key for Strasburg lately: "I don't know. I think he's using both sides of the plate, which is key for him. And being able to command fastball. We've talked about that all season, too. Fastball command at 97 is a pretty good pitch in and of itself. And then when you can add the other ones, which are fantastic pitches, then he's pretty devastating and difficult to pick a pitch to hit if he can use both sides. The ability to throw a breaking ball behind in the count or first pitch of the at-bat to get a strike. All of those things work to his advantage."
On whether he's been monitoring Strasburg's pitch counts over his last few starts: "No, it's just a matter of where he's been. A couple starts there, he had the little blister issue, which limited his pitch counts a little bit. It was really really hot and humid. I think that's kind of a product of where he's been in the games, the finger, an him keeping his pitch count down. That's important for him, too. He can get deep in a game in less than 100 pitches."
On Ryan Zimmerman's misplay on a ball at first: "That ball, it's funky spin. You have all the time in the world, and it's bouncing all over the place and jumping all over the place. It's not easy. It just came up and hit him in the heel. I've seen a lot of those from the other side at third, and they're not fun. You don't know which direction it's going to go."
On Drew Storen working out of a jam in the ninth: "It's important. Ordinarily, he wouldn't be in that game. He was up and hot in anticipation of a 2-0 game. So within that, we're not going to shut him down with one game to go. We're going to let him pitch today, because he's up and hot. If we sit him down there, he may not be available for tomorrow, anyway. So we decided to let him pitch even though we scored the last inning. They put a couple of good at-bats on him. But he worked himself out of it."
On Cabrera's three-run double: "He's been falling toward the pitcher a little bit, a little jumpy, not seeing the ball as well as he'd like to. But he's a pro. He's been there a time or two with the bases loaded. He has the ability to calm it down and get a good pitch to hit in that at-bat. Really good for him, a really meaningful base hit for us."
On the key for Strasburg lately: "I don't know. I think he's using both sides of the plate, which is key for him. And being able to command fastball. We've talked about that all season, too. Fastball command at 97 is a pretty good pitch in and of itself. And then when you can add the other ones, which are fantastic pitches, then he's pretty devastating and difficult to pick a pitch to hit if he can use both sides. The ability to throw a breaking ball behind in the count or first pitch of the at-bat to get a strike. All of those things work to his advantage."
On whether he's been monitoring Strasburg's pitch counts over his last few starts: "No, it's just a matter of where he's been. A couple starts there, he had the little blister issue, which limited his pitch counts a little bit. It was really really hot and humid. I think that's kind of a product of where he's been in the games, the finger, an him keeping his pitch count down. That's important for him, too. He can get deep in a game in less than 100 pitches."
On Ryan Zimmerman's misplay on a ball at first: "That ball, it's funky spin. You have all the time in the world, and it's bouncing all over the place and jumping all over the place. It's not easy. It just came up and hit him in the heel. I've seen a lot of those from the other side at third, and they're not fun. You don't know which direction it's going to go."
On Drew Storen working out of a jam in the ninth: "It's important. Ordinarily, he wouldn't be in that game. He was up and hot in anticipation of a 2-0 game. So within that, we're not going to shut him down with one game to go. We're going to let him pitch today, because he's up and hot. If we sit him down there, he may not be available for tomorrow, anyway. So we decided to let him pitch even though we scored the last inning. They put a couple of good at-bats on him. But he worked himself out of it."
On Cabrera's three-run double: "He's been falling toward the pitcher a little bit, a little jumpy, not seeing the ball as well as he'd like to. But he's a pro. He's been there a time or two with the bases loaded. He has the ability to calm it down and get a good pitch to hit in that at-bat. Really good for him, a really meaningful base hit for us."
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