Written by Chelsea Janes at Washington Post.
Stephen Strasburg will not pitch in the All-Star Game next week so he can pitch like this, powerfully and assuredly, into October. His Washington Nationals need seven-inning, two-hit, one-run starts like the one he compiled Friday night to fend off the New York Mets in the National League East. They need the man they signed to anchor the top of their rotation for the next seven years to match aces with zeros to give them a chance against the best.
Strasburg outpitched ailing Noah Syndergaard on Friday night at Citi Field in a3-1 Nationals win. He will reach the all-star break unbeaten, the first National League starter to begin a season 12-0 since 1912. His Nationals are four games up in the National League East.
Because the Nationals need Strasburg to finish this season as well as it has begun, some combination of him, Manager Dusty Baker and General Manager Mike Rizzo decided pitching in the All-Star Game represented too much of a risk.
Hometown fans will have to do without the ace they watched grow from a gawky high schooler to a highly touted college prospect at San Diego State. Important as that game may be to the more sentimental San Diegans, the games the Nationals will play in the months to come mean more to those paying him $175 million over the next seven years. The 27-year-old spent too much of the past few seasons fending off upper-back trouble that never seemed to leave him worry-free. Better safe than sorry, a meeting of the Nationals’ minds concluded.
“They came to me and said that was what they were thinking. In my head, I’m thinking I want to make up for the two starts I missed,” Strasburg said. “Hopefully will be ready to pitch the first game back and get the second half going right.”
Strasburg returned from this year’s upper back trouble Sunday. He threw 62/3 hitless innings in his first start back from the disabled list. His pitch count rose too quickly for him to chase a no-hitter that day. He picked up the pursuit in front of 35,000-plus Friday night.
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