Milestones to celebrate

The past two nights have seen the Washington Nationals’ two best players (arguably) reach milestones much ballyhooed on the Twitter and elsewhere.

On Monday night Nats slugger Bryce Harper hit the 100-RBI mark for the first time in his career. In the Moneyball Era RBIs usually receive asterisks as *not that important* because they tell more about a team’s performance than that of an individual player. True, but one still must bat in a run, as the stat goes. It’s tweet-worthy.

Last night Nats fans (and baseball fans, really), were treated to an even more impressive number: 300. As in, Max Scherzer’s 300th strikeout this season. Yes, yes, everyone is striking out these days and it’s made the K less significant, but come on, 300 strikeouts? Only the best are on that list.

Now consider the following. Of the folks on that 300-strikeout list, Mr. Scherzer has given up the fewest hits en route to those 300 strikeouts. As a matter of Max, 150 hits to be exact. Twice as many strikeouts as hits? A pitcher dreams of that in one game let alone an entire season.

For a little context, in Bob Gibson’s magical 1968 season he posted 268 Ks and gave up 198 hits.

Remember, that was the guy who was so dominant they changed the rules the following season.

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About moc

My name is Mike O'Connell. I am 42 years old and live in Northern Virginia. I am a teacher, a musician, and an enthusiast of all things American.

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