Scherzer's composure can help future Nationals pitchers find success

Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer came within five outs of his second no-hitter this season in Monday's 5-1 win over the Reds.

"I thought he was going to do it again," said manager Matt Williams. "Some great plays early. T-Mo (Tyler Moore) made a great play, Uggs (Dan Uggla) made a great play at second base. Pitch count was in order. He was pushing it, but I thought he was going to do it again. He pitched really well."

Scherzer has wanted to end this season strong, similar to what Stephen Strasburg has been able to do over his last four starts.

"My stuff has, in my opinion, been very good kinda throughout the whole year," Scherzer said. "I've been making mistakes just here and there and that's been causing some home runs and why I feel I have struggled in the second half. From a stuff standpoint, I feel like all of my pitches have been there and what I've been able to accomplish with them. It's just been going out there and executing it with a better mind set."

Williams said the Nationals decided to let him go even though his pitch count was getting high. Scherzer finished with 113 pitches.

"If it gets to that point, you have to allow him to try to do something special again," Williams said. "Not worried. Concerned about the seventh inning when he started to labor a little with his command. But if he gets to that point you got to let him try.

"I think for him, the most important thing is the fastball down and away to the righty. He had good command of that today."

Scherzer said he would have loved another no-hitter but knows why those type of accomplishments are so rare. Tucker Barnhart ended the no-hit bid with a clean single

"Those are extremely tough to do," Scherzer said. "You have to get a little luck on your side. I thought I was getting some luck. They hit some couple balls at some people. Our guys made some great plays out there. T-Mo made a great play out there, Uggs made a great play, (Michael A.) Taylor made a great play, so I thought there was the makings of it. But credit to Barnhart, he put a good swing on it and was able to break it up."

Scherzer did not have this result in his last outing against the Orioles, a 4-3 loss in which he allowed two homers, including the Manny Machado two-run shot in the seventh that flipped the game. He got very emotional in the late stages of that game as he marched around the mound after each of his strikeouts.

This time, he remained focused on his catcher Wilson Ramos.

"You know, I really felt today that I was in much more composure," Scherzer said. "When you pitch 120 pitches, you actually learn how to pitch. I've always been a proponent of that. You need to go deep in your pitch counts like that because you really figure out a lot about yourself. Last start how I finished, I competed as hard as I could, but I didn't use my mind as well as I probably should. I used my intensity instead of my mind.

"Whereas today, I felt much more composed and was using my mind before my intensity. Just thinking with Willie, what he was trying to call and what I thought was going to be the best pitch. We did a great job together, mixing and matching with all the pitches and just finding different situations to execute different pitches. I thought that was a big reason we had success there."

This is more great insight for Scherzer, who is one of the best at explaining his thought process during the ups and downs of each start, and how he tries to use all his tools available to generate outs.

I think it would be a big asset for the Nationals if Scherzer would head to Florida after the season and teach the young Nationals pitchers at fall instructional league what it takes to be very good as a starter in the majors. It is not just the stuff you have that gets outs, it's also the strategy and pitch sequences you devise that can get you through a start - and, like Scherzer, help you get that close to another no-hitter.