Strasburg Monument

If I was a fan in the greater D.C. area, I would be pretty stoked knowing that Stephen Strasburg was just promoted to AAA Syracuse.  He is now one step away from playing his home games at Nationals Park - Field Dimensions:  Left Field- 336 Feet - Left-Center Field- 377 Feet - Center Field- 402 Feet - Right-Center Field- 370 Feet - Right Field- 335 Feet.  Have at it young man.  Let's take a look at the Nationals stats as a pitching staff and where they rank among the rest of the MLB.

ERA - 4.81 (23rd).  Still .09 better than the RED SOX.  His 1.64 ERA in 5 Double-A starts is as promising as his mid-to-uppers 90's heat.  That team ERA will go down once he gets there - I mean they have 3 starters with more than 3 starts who have ERA's over a 6.34 - Lannan 6.34, Stammen 6.75, Marquis 20.52.

Saves - 10 (1st).  At least he knows that if he turns the ball over to Matty Capps in the 9th, he'll preserve a W for Big Steve.

Strikeouts - 143 (29th).  He's averaging 1.2 K/IP.  If he pitches 100 innings, that's 120 K right there.

WHIP - 1.50 (24th).  Strasburg has let up 13 hits and allowed 6 walks in 22 IP, putting his WHIP at a miniscule .86, somewhere in the Roy Halladay/Phil Hughes/Barry Zito range (.88).  NO, HE WILL NOT BE AS GOOD AS DOC!

Keep your heads up Nats fans, help is on the way.  In the meantime, Liván Hernández dominance will have to suffice.

Let the coronation begin - my guess is early June.  They're 1 GB of the Phillies today, they'll be 7 GB by the time he joins the club.

Later. 

CERVELLI!!  3-3, 2 1B, 1 3B, 2 R, 1 SAC - he's hitting .387.  Joba time

Cervelli is AWESOME!!

Well, not really singing the blues - we just hung a loss on the NY Tech Bears, 13-7.  We seemed to have a bit of a power surge today.  We pounded out 13 hits - 3 2B, 1 3B, and 4 HR.  We got some good pitching early that set the tone - 2 unearned from our starter, 2 earned from our middle man, and 2 earned from our ender.  We walked 5 guys, but punched out 10, so it wasn't a total wash - if we would have struck out 4 or 5, I'd be pissed.  A win is a win, and we got 3 big games this weekend up in Buffalo.

Yankees are on, and I just tuned in.  1-1 T4.  Burnett looking good, Tejada just doubled into the RF corner, looks like I spoke too soon.  Six K's in 3+ innings so far, he must have some good stuff going on - either that or because they're playing the Orioles.  Jeter could have just thrown that ball to 3rd to get Tejada but took the sure out at 1st.  I won't argue with his decisions, but he could have had the lead runner if he wanted.  94 at the shins, tough to hit that.  Nasty slider right there. 

I was just thinking about what they are talking about now - Cervelli is a spark plug.  As a pitcher, it always excites you when you can count on your catcher to stoke your fire a little bit.  I always liked a catcher who gave a fist pump after a big strikeout - what a catch that was, Cervelli!!  I just changed the title to this post from Tuesday Blue's Day.  I just got pumped up and I'm not even at the stadium.  Go Yanks!!  I hope they get something going and put this game out of reach - the longer you let a bad team hang around, the more confidence they have.

OK, wife is coming home from class, gonna spend some time with her.  Have a great Tuesday evening!  Linds wants to go to the Riverdale Diner, hooray wife.  Good decision.  I'm starving.

Cervelli is hungry for a win, I know that.