NATIONALS NOTEBOOK
Quality Arms Do a Number On Nats' Bats
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
On Sunday, a clubhouse attendant dropped a small stack of CD cases on a chair belonging to Lenny Harris, the Washington Nationals' hitting coach. Burned onto those discs was video footage of the next three starting pitchers the Nationals will face beginning today: the Los Angeles Dodgers' Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux and Clayton Kershaw.
Two of those pitchers have already shut the Nationals out this season. The other -- Maddux -- is merely a future Hall of Famer.
Harris shook his head. He called the trio "money men." As in, pitchers like that -- those capable of domination -- are the kind who are paid by contending teams to win down the stretch.
And pitchers like that are the kind who have made a living this season shutting down the Nationals.
Dominant pitchers have earned the title because they win often, and not just against the weakest lineups. But this season, the Nationals have had particular trouble defeating above-average starters. Since the all-star break, they have defeated just two starters, Jair Jurrjens of Atlanta and Aaron Cook of Colorado, with winning records. They've also been the punching bag for CC Sabathia (a complete-game shutout), Ben Sheets (a complete-game shutout), and last weekend, Ryan Dempster (7 1/3 innings, one run) and Rich Harden (7 innings, one run).
Against starters who have pitched at least 75 innings this season with ERAs equal to or less than 4.00, entering yesterday, the Nationals have an 8-33 record.
And now, the Nationals get Lowe, Maddux and Kershaw. Of those three, only Lowe (3.89) has an ERA to rank among the sub-4.00 group. But each presents a different challenge. Lowe has one of the best sinkers in the league, a pitch that baffled Washington on July 26, when the righty went eight innings in a shutout. Maddux is one of the game's all-time control marksmen. And Kershaw, though just 20, has the potential -- and the fastball -- to be on a short list of future aces.
Washington's increasing familiarity with such top-flight pitchers won't help much, Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "The good pitchers are good for a reason," he said. "It doesn't matter how many times you see them."
