Masterpiece

Congratulations to John Lannan, who tonight embarassed the Binghamton Mets, pitching his first complete game shutout. In all, Lannan faced just 32 batters, recording just one strikeout and throwing 80 of 106 pitches (holy crap!) for strikes. The only batter who looked even remotely capable of hitting Lannan tonight was Jeff Francouer.

Lannan has become one of the better "stoppers" in baseball, and stands in the class of Zach Greinke and Dan Haren in that his team gives him plenty of opportunities to end losing streaks. Greinke and Haren do it by baffling hitters with electric stuff, denying baserunners, and resembling Hall of Famers. Lannan, on the other hand, does it with... good God. He locates well and gets ground balls. The question is: can any pitcher who refuses to strike out batters succeed long-term? Is there an example?

Sure, a few (21 active players) have been able to keep their spot in the rotation while posting less than 4 SO/9, but to be compared to Carlos Silva or Brian Meadows isn't going to be taken as a compliment. Most other pitchers on the list are either extreme groundball pitchers (Aaron Cook), or Tom Glavine at ages 22 and 41. Strikeouts are important in the homerun era, when Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham patrol almost 50% of the outfield (Nyjer Morgan covers the other 55%). I expect that Lannan's long run without K's is a fluke and he will push his numbers back up around 5 SO/9 next year.

Edit: Actually, John Lannan matches up pretty well with Nick Blackburn, who also continues to succeed in an unconventional manner. Blackburn is a righty, so it can't all be attributed to funky lefty junk.

Stopping the Skid

As we found out earlier in the season in Arizona, firing the manager does not guarantee success, as AJ Hinch crashed and burned in his debut. It helps to have one starter that the players trust and will rally behind. Right now, that guy is Shairon Martis, who has been their rotation stopper. The Nats are 5-2 when Martis starts, and I'll let you break out the abacus to calculate their win percentage when he doesn't. Today, he'll face off against the Pirates and Jeff Karstens; this is about as money-in-the-bank as the Nats will get given their current predicament.

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of watch the first home complete game in Nats Park history pitched by Martis (sad it took nearly 100 home games to get one). He attacked hitters and forced players to put the ball in play. He is capable of getting to the 8th inning because the players and the coaches are comfortable with his approach. They know he is not Pedro Martinez, but he isn't Daniel Cabrera either. He should have no problem attacking a light Pittsburgh lineup tonight. They are below league average in slugging and walks.

Regardless, the Nats have the Orioles coming to town Friday. It will be embarrassing to have the place packed with 75% O's fans. If they are going to make a move on the manager, which is inevitable because they never renewed Acta's contract, the time would be right now. Most smart fans know that most of this mess isn't Manny's fault, but given the situation, he has done little restore a sense of order. The team is playing worse each game and THAT is his fault.