With robotic precision, Strasburg dominates another opponent

When Max Scherzer does something big, you know it. Scherzer puts all his emotions on display, celebrates when he succeeds, laments when he fails.

When Stephen Strasburg does something big, you have no idea. Strasburg rarely reveals any emotions, and his expressions and words aren't much different after a win than they are after a loss.

Take, for example, the Nationals right-hander's response this evening to a question about the 15 strikeouts he recorded in a 3-0 victory over the Padres, a career-best performance.

"It's pretty cool, but there's another game five, six days from now," he said. "So maybe I'll enjoy it tonight, but back to work tomorrow."

Somewhere, Bill Belichick is smiling. (If he knows how to do that.)

If Scherzer is a whirling dervish on the days he starts, Strasburg is a robot. That's not a bad thing, mind you. It works for him and his personality.

You would think a 15-strikeout game would feature some peak moments, some drama that brought the crowd to its feet and left the pitcher pumping his fist as he hopped off the mound. That doesn't happen much during Strasburg starts, though. His precision in carving up opposing lineups is remarkable and consistent, with very few instances of tension.

The most notable moments in today's game? The Padres loaded the bases with two outs in the first, then Strasburg struck out Austin Hedges with a slider. And after they got a pair of singles in the sixth, Strasburg struck out Cory Spangenberg and Hedges back-to-back with curveballs.

Ho-hum. Move on to the next inning.

"I mean, I can't really worry about whether they're going to put it in play or not," he said of his high strikeout total. "I'm just trying to make pitches, trying to attack the strike zone."

Truth be told, there's more to it than that. Strasburg was able to put away so many San Diego batters today because he had the ability to use any one of his four pitches in any count. He recorded at least one strikeout via fastball, curveball, changeup and slider, leaving the Padres utterly guessing at the plate.

"When you can throw 95 (mph), as a hitter you have to protect against the fastball," said bench coach Chris Speier, who improved to 2-0 as acting manager while Dusty Baker is away this weekend. "The last two outings, he's had his curveball working really, really well. Good luck as a hitter. That's not easy."

Rarely has Strasburg ever been harder to hit than he was today. His Game Score (a formula developed by Bill James to rate starts by every pitcher) was 89, second-best of his career behind only a 14-strikeout, one-hitter against the Phillies on Sept. 15, 2015.

Had he been able to keep his pitch count a little lower early on today - he needed 43 pitches to get through the first two innings and finished at 108 - he might have been able to pitch the eighth and leapfrog that previous career-best game.

Strasburg's hallmark, though, isn't singular displays of dominance. It's a consistent run of really, really good performances.

Combine all of Strasburg's starts over the last two years and you get 34 in total, the typical average for a full, healthy season. In those 34 starts, he is 21-5 with a 3.39 ERA, having struck out 257 batters in 215 innings. The Nationals' record in those games is 27-7.

Many of those starts have come 24 hours after Scherzer took the mound and did his own thing, making for among the deadliest 1-2 pitching combos in baseball. That certainly has been this case this weekend, with Scherzer and Strasburg combining to allow one run and six hits in 15 2/3 innings, striking out 28 batters while walking only two.

"I know when you have those types of combinations, they feed off each other," said Speier, who played with Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry in San Francisco and coached Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson in Arizona. "There's a little competitiveness within the starting pitchers that is very healthy. Somebody comes in and throws well, and the next guy wants to throw well today. It's a win-win for us."

There is probably some truth to that. Just don't count on Strasburg to admit it.

"No, that's all talk and everything, to be honest," he said. "If the guy before you throws a perfect game, I can't go out there and try to throw a perfect game. It's just that you do what you can on a given day.

"That's the thing about baseball: Any team can beat any other team on any given day. So you have to go out there and pitch to your strengths and do what you can to keep it close and give the guys in the lineup a chance to go out there and win the game."

The only line missing from Strasburg's answer? The line Belichick surely would have closed with: "On to San Francisco."