Frickin' computer wiped out a longer set of comments I was going to post. I'll do it in bullets now:
1) Strasburg was frustrating but not bad through 5. Other than the first inning homer, there had not been much hard contact to then, but I think that the first 3 balls hit fair fell for hits (or carried out of the park), and that, up to that point, I think he had given up 5 hits, mostly groundballs, on 9 or 10 fair, fieldable hits. No walks was good, too. That said, the 2 strike hits jacked up his pitch count. I wonder about not using the change more. When he came to bat in the bottom of the 5th with high 90s pitch count, I might have pinch hit and turned the game over to Stammen.
2) the most frustrating thing about Stras last night was the early hits, it was the 6th. Second straight time Williams leaves him in and then he surrenders key runs next inning. If he is tiring, then it is on Williams and McCatty, but he should be able to handle the burden. Call it not pitching like an ace, or even Jack Morris.
3) Had to question not bringing in Frandsen to hit 9th and placing Clippard 7th when Espinosa made the last out in the 11th. Frandsen was going to bat in the 12th anyway, but I would have at least left myself the option to bring back Clippard for more than one inning.
4) Given the decision in the 11th that we were not going to push a 1 inning pitcher beyond 1 inning, it is then a bit surprising that Barrett did not pitch the 13th. If you were going to defer a guy hard for more than an inning, why not roll the dice on Barrrett in the 13th and hope that you rally at the bottom of the inning?
i realize there are counters to all of the management decisions I'm wondering about (ended up needing the PH in extras so burning one in the 5th may not have been right - hindsight there; Clipp had pitched a few times this week so maybe he could not go more than an inning, Blevins had had an OK 12th so maybe you squeeze an extra inning out of him, get through the 13th with the bottom of the order, then bring on Barrett), but this is one where the were lots of real time decisions I would have gone the other way. That, and the importance of the game in terms of standings and psyche, made this one of the more frustrating games.
