You can never have too much pitching, but it appears that (if yesterday is any indication), the Nationals have more than enough for next year. Ross Detwiler is the latest evidence — the young lefty produced another more-than-solid outing on Tuesday night, at the back end of a day-night double header, taming the Philadelphia Phillies through 7.1 innings. He shut down the defending N.L. East champs and provided a sweep of the doubleheader in Philadelphia.

The 3-0 victory put the Nationals at 8-8 vs. Philadelphia this season, and Charlie Manuel has to be impressed — the Nats play Philadelphia tough, which is more than you can say about their abilities against the Marlins. Of course, Detwiler had help: a Danny Espinosa home run in the second, a throwing error from Phillies’ catcher Carlos Ruiz that allowed Jayson Werth to score, and his own single up the middle in the sixth.

But Detwiler’s heroics tell only a part of the story: while the box score shows a Nationals’ win, a Philadelphia fans memory will come down to this — an upstart team and untried lefty came into “the Bank” and outdueled Cliff Lee (with his stinking 2.38 ERA), a member of Philadelphia’s vaunted quartet of starters — the third of four veteran pitchers that Philadelphia is counting on to mount yet another assault in this game of capture the flag.

Of course, the other line in Philadelphia is not so much that the Nationals won, but that the Phillies lost. The Ashburns have already clinched the division and can rightly (if lamely) claim that impressive as Detwiler was, Philadelphia’s twin losses on Tuesday show that the Ponies aren’t exactly all in. Still, the Bard of South Philadelphia, is a little disturbed, and not necessarily because he’s paid to be.

“I’m not worried, I just like to see us play better,” manager Charlie Manuel said following the twin losses. “We clinched our division three days ago. Right now, I wouldn’t call it going through the motions. I’d say we’re not focused. We’re not focused into the game, I feel like. It’s normal in some respects.”

For Davey Johnson, however, Detwiler’s pitching (and not the Phillies’ performance), was the story of the game — he was why they performed poorly. “I can’t say enough good things about him,” Johnson said of his young starter. “The Phillies are a great hitting ballclub and he was letter perfect . . . Today he was nice, calm and collected and threw a lot of quality pitches.”

Detwiler made headlines, but so too did Drew Storen, who was perfect in the ninth, and notched his 40th save. Considering the Nationals’ bullpen performance in 2010, Storen’s season long excellence should be cause for a celebration or two. Storen has given the Nationals just over 72 innings in the role of closer this year, with a 2.86 ERA. Those numbers put him among the league’s elite.

No Country For Tim Lincecum: Forget pitching, what you can’t ever have enough of is baseball. Sliding up and down the dial last night (well, it used to be a dial), you could take in a murder in Connecticut over at CNN, or No Country For Old Men on AMC — it must be a marathon, they’ve shown it back to back on successive nights . . .

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Stephen Strasburg finally received the run support he needed, as Adam Dunn stroked two home runs and the Washington Nationals subdued the red hot San Francisco Giants 8-1 at Nationals Park. Dunn’s surge against the McCovey’s brought “the kid” his third win of the season — a workmanlike six inning three hit outing that solidified his status as “the next big thing” in Washington. While Strasburg’s solid outing dominated the morning after headlines, Dunn’s barrage vaulted the slugger into the home run lead in the National League, with 22. Dunn was 3-4 on the night, scored three and drove in three — one of his best games of the season.  “When I get the pitch that earlier in the year I’ve been fouling off, I’m getting the barrel to it,” Dunn said after the game. “I’ve hit a lot of mistakes — a lot of balls where the pitcher didn’t intend it to be. Usually you get one of those an at-bat, and you still have to capitalize on them. That’s kind of what’s happening right now.”

Dunn’s outing backed a stellar pitching performance from Strasburg, who scattered three hits and struck out eight — lowering his ERA to 2.32 on the season. If there was a negative from the game, it was that Strasburg and catcher Wil Nieves did not seem to be on the same page, at least early on. And a dugout look-in during the third inning seemed to confirm that view, with Nieves and Strasburg exchanging pleasantries about pitch selection. That Strasburg was frustrated by the decision making seemed to be confirmed in the way that Nats themselves described their respective roles — “catcher Wil Nieves was behind the plate making suggestions” — and by Strasburg’s post game focus on what he wanted to accomplish: “I think today was really the first time where I really went out there and wanted to call my own game and do what I wanted to throw on any count,” he said.

Despite the mini controversy (though you have to wonder: would the Nats describe Pudge Rodriguez’s sign flashing as “making suggestions?”), it was hard to argue with Strasburg’s success. “The Kid” threw 31 curveballs (the most of any of his starts), offered 13 change-ups, didn’t allow a hit on pitches on the inside half of the plate and held the Giants to 0-4 with two strikeouts with runners in scoring position. The only blemish on Strasburg’s night was an Andres Torres lead-off scorcher that ducked into the lower right field stands. Thereafter, Strasburg made the adjustment: shifting his focus from fastballs to curves and change-ups, and baffling San Francisco hitters. He walked only one batter and the Nats played solid behind him — giving up no errors. Strasburg seemed to own Pablo Sandoval, striking out the swing-for-the-fences behemoth three times.

Pablo Sandoval is still all the rage in San Francisco — “Kung Fu Panda” as Giants fans call him (or, more properly “The Round Mound of Pound“) is the life of the McCovey clubhouse, devising a handshake for every player and starring in self-directed Youtube videos that extol the virtues of playing in the Bay. But after a stellar ’09 season that featured a .330 BA and 25 home runs, the rotund sometime-third-baseman (he now plays mostly at first), has cooled off. He’s hitting just.270 with six dingers in 2010, a far cry from his all star-like assault on NL pitchers last year. Frisco fans know the problem — “the panda” is so impatient at the plate that the Giants’ in-dugout brain trust has to regularly remind him to wait on pitches. And his weight is ballooning. The official stats show him at 245 pounds, but that’s probably more of a wish. When the season started, Sandoval (“with a heart full of napalm“) predicted he would hit .350 with 30 home runs.

Not hardly.

The Panda has struggled — and Giants fans noticed, criticizing his “quirky ways,” lack of mental preparation and “top heavy” swing. They weren’t alone. Bay manager Bruce Bochy raised a hue and cry when he pinch hit for Sandoval at the end of June, a hint that Giants’ management was less than enamored of his free swinging habits and lack of production. But that’s not all: Sandoval’s mental mistakes were (and continue to be) exasperating for his teammates who, after one gaffe (he overran second, and was picked off), isolated him on the Giants’ bench. He shrugged: “Yesterday is yesterday,” he said in Spanish. “Today is another day.” Maybe. But the Panda’s early season struggles, and the eclipse of a whole set of Giants hitters, sent San Francisco G.M. Brian Sabean in search of hitting.

The most recent and important addition was the signing of Pat Burrell, whose free agent stint with the Rays was less than what Tampa had wanted. San Francisco welcomed the former Phillies’ slugger with open arms — and an apparently open wallet. Burrell has responded, adding pop to the anemic line-up. The front office made other changes: dealing fan favorite Bengie Molina to Texas for reliever Chris Ray and (not incidentally), freeing up the space behind the plate for waiting-in-the-wings Buster Posey. Posey is a kind of anti-Sandoval, a no-nonsense mature-beyond-his-years sleek piece of clay. Posey is a trimmed down version of Sandoval, a star in the making, a team tiger to Sandoval’s weighty bear.  The Molina-for-Ray trade not only shed a veteran presence, it lopped about 45 pounds (or more!) off the team’s collective weight. Sabean’s Molina message was clear: if you want to stay in San Francisco you have to produce. Bruce Bochy is with this program — he has benched slumping Aaron Rowand and built a new, younger and faster outfield that is anchored by a revived Aubrey Huff.

The result? Ask the Milwaukee Brewers. The Giants breezed into Milwaukee for a four game series against The Crew on July 5 and dunked the guzzlers in four straight. This was not your normal sweep, but a San Francisco blitzkrieg: the Giants outscored Milwaukee 36-7, notching 50 hits in four games while showing off one of the major league’s best pitching staffs: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito and “oh-my-god-he’s-finally-arrived” rookie Madison Bumgarner. Which is not to mention that “other” Frisco arm, Jonathan Sanchez who, since his no-hitter last year, has turned into a top-of-the-rotation (in San Francisco that term means “behind Lincecum and Cain”) starter. Sanchez (once viewed as trade bait to, among others, the Washington Nationals), is now a mere 7-6 with a 3.50 ERA. For most teams, those kinds of numbers would have a G.M. salivating, in San Francisco they’re only passable. Now, as a part of their midwest and east coast road swing, the once punchless Giants are headed into Nationals Park. The match-up starts tonight, as “The Kid” faces off against the savvy and relentless Matt Cain.

How odd is it that, just over forty games into the season, the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants — teams so different in outlook, history and raw talent — would have almost identical records? And yet there it is: after suffering through a gut-wrenching five game losing streak, the Giants (predicted in the pre-season as one of the elite teams of the NL West), are one game over .500, as are the Nats (at 23-22). If the Giants are so much better than the Nats (as baseball analysts would have once claimed), then why are they playing so poorly?

At least a part of the answer became obvious on Sunday, as the McCoveys struggled through yet another punchless contest — registering a terminally fatal 0-18 with runners in scoring position and suffering their second consecutive shutout. The loss was particularly hard to swallow, as it came against their White Elephant rivals across the Bay, who not only swept the interleague series, but made the Giants look downright silly. Here’s the key, at least according to San Francisco skipper Bruce Bochy: the Giants can hit, but only sometimes and even when they do, it’s not when runners are in a position to score.

Giants fans are becoming impatient: with one of the most formidable starting rotations in all of baseball, the Giants should be winning decisively. They’re not. Bochy has responded to the team’s hitting drought by shaking up the McCovey’s batting order: dropping outfielder Aaron Rowand into the sixth spot and moving speedster Andres Torres to the head of the line-up. But even Bochy has doubts this will work — San Francisco’s problem is that it lacks hitters who can hit for power and average. Pablo Sandoval is San Francisco’s premier (and popular) young power hitter, but his batting average stands at .282 — hardly something to brag about. Aaron Rowand, signed as a free agent to anchor the outfield and drive in runs, is hitting just .242 while import Freddy Sanchez is struggling to remain above the Mendoza line.

A comparison between a line-up struggling to generate runs and one that knows how to put them on the board is sobering. The Giants have put 33 dingers into the seats, the Nats 39; the Giants are hitting an anemic .257, the Nats are chugging along at .265 — the Giants have driven in 160 runs, the Nats 191. Which is to say: a San Francisco front office that boasts a starting rotation of Lincecum, Cain, Zito and Sanchez (truly, the Nats have no one to compare), is now having to scramble to find someone comparable to Willingham, Dunn, Zimmerman and Guzman — anyone of whom would add more power and average to the Giants line-up than anyone they currently have. Which is why, in the weeks ahead, the Giants will begin to search for the hitting they will so desperately need to catch the Friars and Trolleys for the NL West flag. They must know — the price will be high.

Stephen Strasburg, Washington’s first overall pick in the 2009 first year player draft, will answer questions from fans and the media in D.C. on Friday. But it’s likely that he won’t be able to answer the most important question  he will face: just how good are you anyway? Strasburg is the most highly touted amateur pitcher in baseball history — outdueling (and out-earning) Mark Prior, Ben McDonald and David Clyde for the honor. The San Diego State University righthander has a zippy fastball and a vicious hook, but other pitchers in other eras have had the same, and failed. That said, the Nats have done the homework that due diligence required, sending scouts to watch Strasburg in every game he has pitched over the last year. Good scouting can’t guarantee anything, but in this case it might prove the difference between a better-than-average hurler and just another busted flush.

The Nats have sold 6000 $1 tickets to fans who want to see Strasburg, who will arrive at Nationals Park this afternoon at 2 pm. And at 11:30, fans have been invited to chat with the Nats’ new “great right hope” on line at MLB.com. Should be quite a scene. Strasburg, who is only 20, went 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA in 15 starts this at San Diego State University this season. He struck out 195 batters and issued just 19 walks in 109 innings. The ballclub would undoubtedly love to showcase Strasburg sometime in September (and thus fill the seats at Nats Park, at least for one game), but that now seems unlikely. “The Strasburg signing greatly impacts the Minor League system and the Major League ballclub, but I have to reinforce this: He can’t be viewed as the savior of the organization, because as we’ve seen with Jordan Zimmermann, the shelf life is sometimes pretty quick,” new Nats G.M. Mike Rizzo said yesterday. “But we are hoping he is the player we think he is. I know he is the person we think he is. He is a tremendous makeup guy. This guy is what you are looking for in your No. 1 ace, Major League starter.”

Down On Half Street: The Nats open a four game series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Nationals Park on Friday, before heading out to face the North Side Drama Queens in Chicago, the Redbirds in St. Louis and the Friars in San Diego. The Prince Fielder led beermakers, who had high hopes for a playoff spot, are reeling after being swept by the Ahoys in Pittsburgh. The Brew Crew is now four games under .500 and ten games behind St. Louis in the NL Central. The standard view is that the Brewers have the wood to win (Fielder leads the team and has 32 home runs and a .416 OBP) but lack pitching. In fact, Brewers’ bats have been far less effective this year than last, in spite of Fielder’s heroics: the team ranks 17th in batting average, 12th in runs scored, ninth in OBP. Which is to say: the Brewers are right where they should be — they’re a middling team in need of a lot of help, and not just on the mound . . .

The big series of the weekend is not in New York, where “the Nation” faces off against “the Empire,” but in Colorado, where the Rockies take on the McCoveys. The Rockies and Giants are nip and tuck in the NL Wild Card race, but the edge has to go to the Rockies, in spite of San Francisco’s Lincecum-Cain one-two pitching punch. The Rockies have won four in a row, the Giants were beaten in Cincy last night (in a walk-off home run by a Redlegs’ rookie) and the McCoveys are 14th in team hitting in the NL (the Rockies are second). Then too, the Rockies line-up is filled with on-base boppers, while the Giants are thin and getting thinner. The hope for Frisco at the trade deadline was the Freddie Sanchez could fill a hole up-the-middle while providing some pop, but his shoulder is aching. He hopes to return for the Colorado series, but nothing is certain . . .

The McCoveys energized fan base has been decrying the lack of punch all year — and criticizing the front office for the team’s patchwork defense. Bay City Ball opines that Tim Lincecum is worth two Pablo Sandovals and that “outside of Lincecum, Sandoval, and Cain, the Giants don’t have much.” Yeah, that’s right. But for a guy who sits for some 30 games in Nationals Park, Lincecum, Sandoval and Cain sound like a helluvalot . . . for The Giants Baseball Blog, the key is “getting the hitting going” in the upcoming series. The Giants recently added Ryan Garko to their anemic line-up, GBB notes, and “it looks like he’s heating up just in time.” Well, maybe . . . Our favorite, the appropriately named  Dodger Hater, celebrates San Francisco’s gaggle of top-notch arms, but points out the the Giants’ bullpen is good, but not great. The holes are obvious: ” . . . all of us in Giants Nation feel like Bobby Howry is the least trustworthy arm in our pen,” Dodger Hater writes. “Every time Lurch Howry manages to pitch a scoreless inning, we all breathe a sigh of relief” . . . All of this is interesting, but more a comment on Giants’ fans than on the team. The relief pitching might appear shakey, but the McCoveys have the best pitching in all of baseball and have a good shot at catching the Rockies. If they can’t score runs, the least they can do is keep the likes of Helton and Tulowitzki off the bases . . .