Washington Nationals do not allow rare home-runs to opponents – MLB Update
High velocity pitching by starters like Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann has proven a nightmare for the hitters. Just three home-runs in 16 games reflect the kind of toil hitters endured to make connections. Apart from homers, not many
runs have been allowed.
A superficial analysis will reveal that most of the runs they gave came off late in the innings and therefore the role of their starters one can understand has been spot on. Only 45 runs have been allowed by them so far, currently the lowest in the Division.
Fastballs by Gonzalez and an amazing ability to come out successful while bases are loaded by Strasburg have become a formidable force for the opponents.
Manager Davey Johnson has plenty of options to resort to every time he needs a powerful starter in the game.
Nationals back-up is so strong that by the time Chien-Ming Wang got injured, one will think that manager will see the options limited, but as it turned out replacement Ross Detwiler has been just as equally reliable.
Even the bullpen strength is nearly a perfect combination of Tyler Clippard, Henry Rodriguez and Brad Lidge. Apart from few poor outings by the Lidge, bullpen has stepped up every time save was needed or runs were to be contained.
A team which can be put forward as a nearest competitor of the Nationals in terms of the pitching strength is the Philadelphia Phillies. Interestingly they are currently the lowest side on table at the moment despite allowing only 46 runs, just one more
than the Nationals have conceded in the season.
Only reason the Nationals lead the table is a support their pitchers gained from the offence, something Phillies missed sourly throughout the season and thus they are languishing at the lower end.
This reveals the point that if it was not for the support Nationals drew from their offence their fate will not be any different than that of the Phillies.
Therefore, drawing desired performance from the rotation is great, achieving the same from the hitters must also be a focus of the manager. Only then the potential playoff spot they are most likely to win this season given their current standing on the table
can actually be a reality.
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