Is Strasburg’s Inning Limit Here Yet?

After somewhat struggling against the Braves in his short career, Stephen Strasburg dominated the Braves, striking out 10 and walking one in six innings.  I still don’t get how the Nationals are shutting down a pitcher with a 2.85 ERA, 2.62 FIP, and 2.74 xFIP.  That xFIP is a quarter of a run better than the next best pitcher in all of baseball, Adam Wainwright.

While Paul Maholm has thrown very well as a Brave, the home run ball has been a problem.  Despite only allowing 14 flyballs in 30 innings, Maholm has allowed five homers, about triple the league average.  All eight runs he has allowed have come via the long ball.  While I don’t expect Maholm to continue striking out 23% of hitters, I definitely don’t see him allowing 35% of flyballs going out of the ballpark.

Chad Durbin struck out all three hitters he faced in the 8th inning, marking the 9th time this year that a Braves pitcher has struck out every hitter he’s faced, minimum of one inning.  That leads the majors, two more than the Diamondbacks and Padres in second, while the Mets have not had such an outing this year.

Putting on my weatherman hat, there is only a 25% chance of rain around first pitch, with decreasing chances after that.  That should be a relief after seeing rain delays in each of the first two games.  The Braves absolutely need a win before heading out west for the next week, and Kris Medlen likely gives us the best chance for that elusive victory.