Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 8:58 p.m.
Updated at 1:20 a.m.
By Mark Zuckerman
Nationals Insider
CSNwashington.com
Pitchers making their first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery aren't supposed to toss five scoreless innings. They aren't supposed to hit 99 mph on the radar gun. They aren't supposed to display the kind of efficiency and consistency normally reserved for guys who have never had any elbow issues.
So the Nationals were careful not to place any expectations on Stephen Strasburg's 2011 debut Tuesday night. Given the fact he hadn't been on a big-league mound in 381 days, and given the uncertainty that surrounded this start against the Dodgers because of a forecast that called for a 100 percent chance of rain, the Nationals were pleased simply to hand him the ball again.
And then Strasburg unleashed his first big-league pitch in 12 1/2 months -- a 96-mph fastball to Dee Gordon -- and everyone suddenly remembered what makes this right-hander different from everyone else.
"That is the norm for Tommy John," pitching coach Steve McCatty said of the struggles other hurlers usually experience in their return outings. "But ask yourself: Is this guy normal?"
No, he really isn't, a fact Strasburg confirmed over and over again during his five innings of brilliance Tuesday night.
When his evening was complete, he had tossed five scoreless innings, allowing two hits without issuing a walk, striking out four and looking nothing like a pitcher trying out his reconstructed elbow for the first time against big-league hitters.
The Nationals wound up losing the game, 7-3, when five relievers failed to protect the three-run lead Strasburg built. In the bigger picture, though, the Nationals emerged victorious at night's end, because they realized they've got their ace back in the fold for the rest of this season and many more to come.
"Obviously, he's projected to be our No. 1, and he showed there why," manager Davey Johnson said. "That was pretty obvious that he was a dominant pitcher. First time out in a year? If you didn't like what you saw tonight, you don't like great pitchers."
If there were any uninformed observers among the announced crowd of 29,092 -- in reality, there were probably half that many fans in attendance due to the lousy forecast -- they might never have known Strasburg hadn't stood on a major-league mound since he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow Aug. 21, 2010 in Philadelphia.
The 23-year-old's fastball consistently sat at 96-97 mph and topped out at 99 mph. His changeup hit 91 mph. He threw several devastating curveballs that had Los Angeles' hitters baffled.
And most impressively, he threw in a manner far more efficient than anyone saw from him during his electric rookie season. He needed only 56 pitches to navigate his way through five innings, a rate of 11.2 pitches per frame that bested any of his 12 starts last year.
It wasn't by accident. After lamenting his high pitch counts as a rookie -- which often forced him out of games after only five or six innings -- Strasburg made it his mission this season to pitch to contact earlier in the count and use up fewer bullets.
He did that brilliantly Tuesday night, never needing to throw more than 13 pitches in any one inning.
"I'd say it just worked out that way, but it really is a mindset," Strasburg said. "Guys going up against me, they don't want to get to two strikes. You've got to make quality pitches early in the count, try to get them to put the ball in play. [Get] weak contact and get quick outs."
Not that the opponents were overly impressed the way plenty were one year ago.
"Obviously, the kid has a good arm, but you see good arms all the time," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "We've seen 95, 96. He's above that sometimes, but it's not way different."
If the visitors' clubhouse wasn't overwhelmed by what Strasburg did, the home clubhouse made up for it.
"It looked like he didn't skip a beat," shortstop Ian Desmond said. "To be able to come back with the adrenaline, with the media, with everything else, and be able to hone in on the strike zone and do your job to that ability? Unbelievable."
That Strasburg was able to pitch five innings without interruption or even so much as any significant rainfall was a minor miracle in itself. Team officials had little confidence all afternoon the game could be played. In the unlikely event it could, Strasburg would probably have to be scratched to prevent him from warming up and then having to sit through a rain delay.
But somehow the rain held off, and when Strasburg emerged from the dugout at 6:35 p.m. to begin warming up, all systems were go for launch.
"I knew they were going to start me if there was going to be an opening," he said. "I just didn't know how long that opening was going to be."
Turns out it was large enough to accommodate his five innings of work. Not until a brief downpour struck in the top of the seventh did the grounds crew scurry to cover the infield. Even then, play resumed after a delay of only 31 minutes.
By then, Strasburg had long since departed. So had the 3-0 lead the Nationals held after five innings, done in relievers Doug Slaten and Brad Peacock (a starter in the minors who was forced to make his big-league debut out of the bullpen with two on and MVP candidate Matt Kemp at the plate). Peacock wound up letting two inherited runners score, plus another he put on base, spoiling Strasburg's shot at earning the win.
Frustrating as the eventual outcome might have been, the Nationals couldn't help but smile at the end of the night. Stephen Strasburg was back on the mound, healthy and dominant. He'll be back on the mound again Sunday against the Astros.
And he only expects to improve with each successive outing having now officially returned from one of baseball's most-significant injuries.
"It's a big milestone that I accomplished here," he said. "It's something that ever since I went under the knife, my goal was to pitch in the big leagues in 2011. I've been able to do that. Now it's all about getting stronger, staying healthy, being better than ever for 2012."
Mark Zuckerman also blogs about the Nationals at natsinsider.com. Contact him at mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com and on Twitter @MarkZuckerman.
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