Major League Baseball

Strasburg throws strikes - Nats' bats go cold

Published Jun. 24, 2010 4:17 p.m. ET

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Maybe Stephen Strasburg throws too many strikes.

Huh?

It takes once-in-a-generation talent to draw once-in-a-blue-moon criticism, but about the only thing to parse from the 21-year-old rookie's first loss is that he had the audacity to throw strikes on 0-2 counts to back-to-back batters in the fifth inning.

Both hitters managed to get bat on ball for opposite field singles - one of them barely making contact with the very end of the barrel - to produce the only run in the Washington Nationals' 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

If that's what it takes for Strasburg (2-1) to lose, it's not going to happen very often. Maybe only when the planets are aligned a certain way. Or when miracle goals are scored by Americans in stoppage time at the World Cup. Or when tennis matches last 10 hours at Wimbledon.

Or when the Nationals are the team he relies on for support. They've scored only one run in his last two starts.

``He did a terrific job again,'' Nationals right fielder Roger Bernadina said. ``We just didn't score any runs.''

These are the numbers from the Strasburg's defeat, coming in his fourth major league start: six innings, nine hits (all singles), one run, nine strikeouts, no walks, 75 strikes in 95 pitches.

``Now I realize everything people have been talking about,'' Royals right fielder Jose Guillen said. ``I'm like: 'Who's this guy?' 'They're talking about him like he's a Hall of Famer.' That's the way people have been talking about him, and today I realized that kid is pretty good.''

And Guillen actually had a good game. He got two hits against Strasburg, including the one that drove in the game's only run.

After the game, Strasburg and manager Jim Riggleman were quizzed about the youngster's propensity for throwing strike after strike after strike. Strasburg hasn't walked a batter in three of his four starts. Instead of wasting an 0-2 pitch, he tries to throw another one in there - and perhaps doesn't always put it exactly where he wants.

Too many strikes? Sounds like a good problem to have.

``He really throws such quality strikes,'' Riggleman said, ``that it's not an issue at this point.''

Strasburg was his best own defender. Without sounding too boastful, he said neither of the critical 0-2 offerings in the fifth inning were bad pitches.

``They didn't really hit the ball hard,'' Strasburg said, ``except for a couple of times they just found the holes.''

The one purpose Strasburg's loss could serve might be to temper the talk of his chances of appearing in the All-Star game. It's a topic that's already generating considerable debate, even though his 1.78 ERA comes from only four games against favorable opposition: The teams he has faced were a combined 50 games under .500 as of Thursday morning.

``His stuff is definitely All-Star stuff,'' Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. ``His numbers aren't yet.''

Even Riggleman hedged when asked whether Strasburg should be an All-Star, saying it's way too early to think about it and emphasizing that his young pitcher will have plenty of All-Star chances ``down the road.''

As for Strasburg, he's still trying to stay as low-key as possible. When reporters asked two off-topic questions after Wednesday's game - one about the bidding price for his baseball card on the Internet, another about whether his wife helps keep him grounded - he refused even to acknowledge either subject and said he wanted only talk about the game. It's a catch-22 because Strasburg has spoken to reporters in Washington on a non-game day only once - June 9 - since his major league debut.

``I'm pretty steady when it comes to baseball,'' he said. ``I'm really trying to manage the highs and lows. It doesn't matter how much hype there is, it's not going to change the way I go out there and approach the game.''

Strasburg did acknowledge that the hype is great for Nationals as a franchise.

``It's obviously brought a lot of national exposure to this team,'' he said. ``But, bottom line, my goal is to come in here and help this team win some ball games. Didn't get it done today, but hopefully we can do it next time.''

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AP freelance writers Daimon Eklund and Rich Dubroff contributed to this report.

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