At the end of a frustrating evening in which his starting pitcher gave up eight runs over four-plus innings, Nationals manager Dave Martinez did not seem as worried about the diminished velocity that rendered Stephen Strasburg ineffective Tuesday as he was “perturbed” about a Busch Stadium camera that caught the right-hander massaging his right shoulder between innings.
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As seen on footage captured by the local camera crew in St. Louis, Strasburg sat in a tunnel rubbing his neck and right shoulder sometime before he returned to the mound for the fourth inning. Not long before the clip aired, Strasburg had given up four runs and faced eight batters in the third inning of the Nationals’ eventual 14-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. His fastball didn’t have its usual zip and he struggled to execute his pitches. The images shown to viewers of Bally Sports Midwest and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network raised questions about whether Strasburg was injured and if cameras are permitted to show players in areas outside the dugout.
Tuesday’s incident was reviewed, said a person with knowledge of the situation, because guidelines do not allow for cameras to capture images in dugout stairwells or access tunnels. Cameras only are permitted to shoot video of what takes place in the dugout or on the field.
Regional affiliates of the Bally Sports Network received an internal memo reminding crews that video cameras cannot photograph in the tunnels and access areas behind the dugouts at any stadium, said a person who received the notice. Bally Sports Midwest received a separate reminder from outside the organization Wednesday as a result of the displeasure voiced by Martinez and Strasburg.
After chalking up Strasburg’s poor outing to faulty mechanics Tuesday night, Martinez was asked if he had an explanation why Strasburg would have been rubbing his shoulder. Martinez said, “No, I do not.” Then he remarked on the camera that caught the picture of Strasburg sitting alone on a folding chair in the access area behind the visiting dugout.
“Quite honestly, that shot shouldn’t have been shown so I’m a little perturbed about that,” Martinez said. “That camera’s not supposed to be down in that tunnel. Pitchers do all kinds of stuff down there. I’ve seen guys stretching hamstrings. What I do know is he never complained about any shoulder issues or anything.”
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He later added: “There are rules and regulations about that. It’s not supposed to go down in the tunnel. It’s not. It’s in black and white.”
Strasburg said “it’s a joke” the camera crew shot in the tunnel.
“There’s got to be some kind of safe place in the stadium,” Strasburg said. “I’m 32 years old. I’ve been doing this a long time. And there’s been plenty of other starts where something is not feeling right and whether you treat yourself or have a trainer come treat you, it’s just part of the business. … I think there should be some sort of privacy. People don’t watch the games on TV to watch some sort of spy camera watching what the player is doing in the tunnel.”
The Busch Stadium camera that captured Tuesday’s images was covered with a towel and another piece of fabric by the time Wednesday afternoon’s game began.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, telecasts implemented a new production model last summer. Home-team broadcast crews were tasked with providing video feeds for whatever outlet aired the game. That led to home and away broadcasts that looked mostly similar.
The measures were kept in place for the start of the 2021 season. So the images aired Tuesday night on the Cardinals’ network then on the Nationals’ channel were compiled by Bally Sports Midwest, the rightsholder that broadcasts Cardinals games. That station was previously known as Fox Sports Midwest before TV station giant Sinclair rebranded its regional sports networks under gambling company Bally’s name.
Hernan Pérez takes the mound
Tuesday night was not the first time in the career of veteran utility man Hernán Pérez that he let loose a few pitches, gave his team’s real pitchers a breather in a lopsided game and provided comic relief.
But it was the first time Pérez, one of three players to win a job on the Nationals roster out of spring training despite starting the year on a minor-league deal, emulated the swagger Nationals ace Max Scherzer usually exhibits on the mound.
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After striking out pinch-hitter Lane Thomas on three pitches, the last of which registered 54 mph and fooled Thomas into swinging a tad early, Pérez walked off the mound. He kept his gaze trained on the retreating batter a few seconds then strutted across the grass with a stoic expression on his face and tension held in his shoulders before he returned to the rubber. The antics were a near-perfect mirror image of the stalk around the mound Scherzer is known to employ.
Before his impression of the strikeout strut, Pérez mimicked Johnny Cueto’s signature mound shimmy (Cueto often stops his delivery just long enough to wiggle his hips and disrupt a hitter’s timing), adopted a Bronson Arroyo-style sidearm delivery and whizzed a 79 mph pitch past the swinging bat of rookie Justin Williams for his first strikeout of the night. All in the same sequence.
Nothing about the one-two-three outing was conventional. Pérez, who made seven mop-up pitching appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2017 to 2019, prefers it that way. He figures if he is being called into a game, it’s one the team would rather forget.
“I try to make a spectacle out of it,” he said in Spanish in an interview with The Athletic.
Mission accomplished.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve seen in my career,” catcher Alex Avila said.
Of course, there is also a serious component here. By covering one inning for the bullpen, Pérez prevented Martinez from burning a fourth reliever five days into 13-day stretch in which the Nationals are expected to play 13 games without a scheduled day off. The move allowed Martinez to use Austin Voth, whom Pérez replaced Tuesday, again in Wednesday afternoon’s 6-0 victory.
Soto’s stellar series
Juan Soto went 6-for-12 at the plate in the series, firming up his astounding early-season numbers with extremely hard contact in the first two games and less deafening cracks of the bat in the finale. On Wednesday, Soto put four balls into play without triggering an exit velocity reading above 92.3 mph. In the previous two games, Soto put five balls into play and only one left his bat at a speed under 105 mph.
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That he even was able to put his bat on so many pitches was a direct result of the return of Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber to the lineup. The two sluggers hit behind Soto on Monday and Tuesday, making it difficult for the Cardinals to pitch around Soto or avoid pitching to him altogether.
Soto said he has not noticed a difference in the way pitchers are approaching his plate appearances. They are still trying to get him out on offspeed pitches and “surprise me” with fastballs. The return of his teammates simply coincided with increased comfort at the plate.
But there is something to be said for the extra protection he gets hitting in front of someone who is a power threat.
“It’s important to have a guy like me or (Bell) or (Schwarber), or whoever is going to hit behind him, to make the other team pitch to him,” said Ryan Zimmerman, whose homer off Adam Wainwright in the third inning came immediately after Soto, batting second for the first time this season, reached on an infield single. “He’s one of the best hitters in the game.”
(Photo of Strasburg: Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
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