In what seemed like a locked-up race, especially after the first two months of the season, now is a wide-open race. The National League Rookie of the Year race is likely down to just two competitors, but the lead the Jason Heyward built up by winning the NL Rookie of the Month in April and May is now all but gone with the emergence of Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg K'd 14 in his debut and then went 8 in his next outing plus ten more in another start. He finally lost a game....1-0 while still looking dominating.
Now he comes to Turner Field to face the Atlanta Braves. The Bravos, who have won 16 of their last 18 at home come into tonight's contest against Strasburg having just faced Justin Verlander of the Tigers and saw their own long ace Tommy Hanson get rocked for the second straight start. And best of all, (or worst of all, really) is that Jason Heyward likely won't be in the lineup as he is scheduled to undergo an MRI this afternoon. Awesome. This comes after a month where he has seen his average drop to .253 and he's struck out in about 1/3rd of his plate appearances. He is not having a good month.
With all of the hype that has been surrounding Strasburg and with Heyward's mini-slump it is (sad to say) a race for RotY that perhaps the Washington pitcher is now leading with a 2-1 record and a rookie record for most K's in the first four starts of a career. (We won't point out that in Tommy Hanson's first few starts, he beat the Yankees and the Red Sox in back-to-back outings, while Strasburg has beaten the Pirates and Indians, ND'ed against the ChiSox and lost to the Royals)
What can the Braves do for their teammate that likely won't face his rookie counterpart? Hit the crud out of Strasburg. Hit him and hit him hard, again and again. And don't strikeout 10+ times. Strasburg is on a pitch count, meaning that the Braves will prolly only see 6 innings of him, but please send him to the showers early. Mash him. They have the lefties to do it in Hinske, McCann, Jones, while Glaus is still hot right now, as is fellow-righty Martin Prado. If Huddy gives a good effort (he can go past 100 pitches, thankfully, Braves fans) which I have no reason to think he won't, the Braves should get the win by attacking the Nationals bullpen.
But please, for J-Hey's sake, get him back in the race by crushing Strasburg. Every pitcher has a bad outing in him. Let's make certain it is tonight.
PS, just because we here at SBF love ya, here is a raw cut of an interview we did recently with Braves reliever Jonny Venters. This interview was conducted Wednesday, June 16 right before the Braves beat the Tampa Bay Rays. Enjoy
FP: You’re becoming a pretty regular contributor out of the bullpen, how does it feel coming to the park everyday knowing that you might be called upon in a big-time situation?
JV: It’s cool. I try to prepare myself to be ready for any kind of situation whether we’re up by nine of up by one, I just approach it with the same mindset everyday.
FP: It is everything though these days, eighth inning, ninth inning, save situations, how big of a difference though is it coming in up nine opposed to just up one?
JV: Looking at it from your own standpoint, if you’re up one and it’s late in the game you get pumped up if there are people on base.
FP: Interleague play going on right now, I’m sure the Rays pitchers are coming to you asking for hitting advice?
JV: -laughs- I don’t know about that.
FP: Do you like interleague play?
JV: I think it’s pretty cool. It’s a chance to see a team you don’t usually see. You go to parks you don’t usually go to. I think it’s cool.
FP: Anything you’d change about it?
JV: No, whatever.
FP: Earlier this week (Tuesday, June 15), you had a long rain delay, what do you do?
JV. I sat in the bullpen for a while, they were about to pull the tarp up but it ended up starting to rain again, so we walked in from the bullpen and kind of hung out, tried to keep ourselves sharp. KK had a hard time staying loose. Just try to kill time however you can.
FP: Looking around the locker room, there are a lot of former all-stars and guys that should be all-stars this year. How many will be on the NL roster this year?
JV: So many, it is hard to say. So many guys that have played in all-star games, and you’ve got guys like Prado, Heyward, Mac (McCann), but it’s up to the fans.
FP: Troy Glaus is having a big year, his first at first base and he probably deserves a shot too.
JV: it is crazy. He comes up to the plate and you’re just expecting something big to happen the way he’s been swinging. It’s been awesome to watch.
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