At this point in the season both the Nats starters and the bullpen (ranked as two distinct groups) are either number one or two in all of baseball (both were number one a week ago). Gio makes his first start tonight after being on the DL for a month. His stats as of today are not anywhere near the quality of the other 4 starters, so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping he comes out of the chute firing on all cylinders:)

Here is how I rank the 5 starters at this point, based on stats and what I have seen them do:
1. Fister
2. Roark
3. Zimmermann
4. Strasburg
5. Gonzalez

There is a new book out (I learned from one of my many “baseball buddies”) about Stephen Strasburg, “Pitchcraft: Stephen Strasburg, The Flawed Prodigy.” I have not read the book, but I skimmed a review. It is focussed on the two facts that (1) he only uses three pitches (fastball, curve, changeup) where most successful starters have at least four, and (2) that he gets upset easily when everything doesn’t go perfectly as he wishes. I may get it sooner or later, but as of today I have at least 6 good but unread books on my coffee table:)

Note: The U.Va. team prevailed last night at the College World Series, but it took them 15 innings to do so! Not sure yet who they face next.