Strasburg stops Phils? |? Harper aggravates knee

Associated Press

Stephen Strasburg dominated over eight innings to earn his third win.

Game in a nutshell: The highly anticipated Stephen Strasburg vs. Cole Hamels matchup lived up to the billing, with each ace carrying a shutout into the seventh. That's when Strasburg turned things up a notch and Hamels fell back to earth. Strasburg struck out the side in the top of the seventh, then watched as his teammates ambushed Hamels for five runs in the bottom of the inning. That was way more run support than Strasburg needed, enough that manager Davey Johnson didn't need to push his right-hander beyond 112 pitches and let Tyler Clippard close out the ninth. One negative development for the Nationals, though: Bryce Harper's knee (already banged up from his collision with the wall in Los Angeles almost two weeks ago) was barking so badly he had to be pulled for a pinch-runner in the seventh.

Hitting highlight: It was turning into yet another maddeningly frustrating day at the plate for the Nationals, who couldn't get another going against Hamels for six innings. And then, they exploded for five runs in the seventh. OK, so maybe it wasn't a conventional offensive explosion, but it worked. It featured a Ryan Zimmerman infield single, an Ian Desmond sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk to Tyler Moore, a 60-foot nubber off Jhonatan Solano's bat that somehow scored two runs, a Steve Lombardozzi base hit that became a triple thanks to Delmon Young's adventures in right field and a Denard Span RBI double to cap it all off. So what if it wasn't a thing of beauty? The way the Nationals have struggled to score runs all season, this was certainly welcome.

Pitching highlight: What more can you say about Strasburg? He was absolutely brilliant, with total command of all three of his pitches. The big weapon today was his curveball, which was as sharp as it's been all season. He also got stronger as the game progressed, retiring 15 of 16 batters during one stretch, nine of them on strikeouts. He also stayed efficient enough to take the mound for the eighth inning for the second time in 15 days (this after never reaching the eighth in the first 53 starts of his career). It wasn't all perfect for Strasburg, though. Just when it looked like he'd finish off eight shutout innings, he was called for a balk with a man on third and two outs in the eighth. A very small blemish in an otherwise spectacular performance.

Key stat: Hamels has not pitched with the Phillies holding a lead since April 7.

Up next: It's time for the annual Battle of the Beltways interleague showdown, but there's a new twist this season. The Nationals and Orioles will play four straight days in two cities (Monday and Tuesday in D.C., Wednesday and Thursday in Baltimore). It all begins at 1:05 p.m. Monday when Gio Gonzalez faces Jason Hammel at Nationals Park.

Source: http://www.natsinsider.com/2013/05/instant-analysis-nats-6-phillies-1.html

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