Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez stand out in season review of Washington Nationals’ rotation
Performance review of Washington Nationals’ pitching department shows that Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez spearheaded their expedition in the season. By throwing solid innings from the mound, they went a long way in making sure the Nationals end up on
top of the National League East Division table.
No wonder, both these hurlers cemented their place on 2012 All-Star roster from National League.
Unfortunately Strasburg was shut-down by the Nationals, which resulted into shortage of options on rotation for them. Gio Gonzalez alone could not help the Nationals in the playoffs.
Though he ascertained that absence of Strasburg does not affect performance of the team much in regular season, in the post-season he struggled immensely.
Experts maintain that if Strasburg was available in the post-season, he along with Gonzalez could have led the Nationals to a National League Division Series victory.
Nationals were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 after their reliever Drew Storen crumbled on the mound in the last inning. As the Nationals lost mainly due to inconsistent performances of their pitchers, presence of Strasburg will have made
a lot of difference.
By the time the Nationals made official declaration of innings limit on Strasburg, critics stated that they have chopped their legs by themselves and that their chances to make anything substantial in the season are all but over.
They clarified that without Strasburg, who was the reason why they topped the table, it will almost be impossible for them to go deep in the post-season.
Interestingly the reality that later panned out was not far from what the experts predicted when Strasburg was being removed from the season.
Regardless of what happened with the Nationals in the post-season, contributions of Gonzalez and Strasburg cannot be put aside.
Both of them made a statement in the season. They are now ideally poised to replicate their performance in the upcoming seasons.
They will be looking to enter Spring Training, gain some momentum there and go all the way to begin their adventure in 2013 regular season.
It will be interesting to see as to how they perform next year and help the Nationals make it into the playoffs once again.
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