Gio Gonzalez Has Brain Freeze, Gio Gonzalez Goes Yard, Makes Love To His Hand?

After the first inning of Wednesday Night's contest between the Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins, a sleeveless (its freakin' cold out there) Gio Gonzalez walked off the mound appearing to be in pain.  Gio grimaced as he put his hand to his temples, looking to have a headache of some sort.  Gonazlez was shown walking down into the locker room (probably to grab some Advil)

When asked after the game about it, Gio responded:

"My head felt like it was getting nailed right in there like a freaking sledgehammer...every inning I was going down there and (inaudible) was massaging it and massaging it, he's got the lucky fingers right now"

And about the cold weather?

"I felt like I was making love to my hand"

FP Santangelo suggested it could be a "brain freeze" and then asked Bob Carpenter if he ever got a brain freeze from drinking a slurpee.  Bob replied with a little dig at the relationship of himself and FP:

Stephen Strasburg & Onyx: Shut Him Down!

The Strasburg debate has gotten out of control.  We have heard from everyone from pitchers, to batters, to managers, to commentators, to people on CNN (WTF).  Well we haven't heard from ONXY, and here is what they have to say!

Nationals Pitchers Fooling Around

On Monday night before the Nationals took on the Giants, FP Santangelo sat down with Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, and Jordan Zimmermann to joke around and talk some baseball.

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Gio:  I'm also tryin to get a Colgate Commercial

Stras:  It's not workin'

Zimm:  You couldn't get a Colgate smile 2 years ago with those teeth

Gio:  I got them volcano, some cave teeth, somethin like that

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More Highlights:

• Gio called their seating arrangement the "Cuban Sandwich" 
• "It's a long season, so, sometimes it's good to just laugh a little" -Strasburg
• They said that they talk a lot of baseball, they study a lot of what's going on in the game, and the jokes are just in between.
• Gio says Strasburg is so intimidating on his pitching days that you need to "bring a bulletproof vest" 
• "If you swing for the fences every time, you're bound to run into one!" -Strasburg
• "It would have been a flyball if it wasn't in Houston" -Zimm on Gio's homer
• Who's pickin up the tab at a restaurant? They all pointed to each other.

Watch The Video Here

More after the jump:

Meet The Nat Pack, The Washington Nationals Starting Rotation

On Monday night in Houston the Nats starters were having a great time laughing in the dugout.  It reminded me of some other guys who liked to have a good time laughing.  So I give to you, the Nat Pack.

Stevey Sinatra, Dean Zimmermartin, Gio Bishop, Det Lawford, & Edwin Davis Jr.

Related Stories:

• Bryce Harper Smashes His Bat The Gif
• Gio Gonzalez High Fives Invisible People The Gif

Stras-Tracker Update

• Strasburg is averaging 6 innings per game and is on pace to throw 11.7 more games.
• To give you an idea on how "early" he will be finished, ESPN has him projected to pitch 34 games and 205 innings this season.

• The team has only lost 3 times this season in a game Strasburg has started.

Detwiler In, Wang Pulled Out

The latest tweet from Mark Zuckerman lets us know that Wang & Detwiler have been flip-flopped for the 2nd time this season.  Wang & Detwiler.  Detwiler & Wang.  wait... WANG IS DETWILER, DETWILER IS WANG ... cries in the shower...

Wang has been flacid all year.  The opposing batters were stroking Wang for base hits all game long.  Wang just couldn't come through in the clutch.  Davey J says he knows how good Wang can be...but he knew he had to yank Wang from the rotation after sticking Wang In and pulling Wang out just a few weeks ago.

In 5 appearances, Wang has a 6.10 ERA.  Detwiler who was pulled earlier for having a rising ERA seems to have settled down a bit (although it might have to do with pitching in the bullpen).  His ERA is down to around 3.34.  Meanwhile Lannan is in the minors pitching good games then awful games.

Does management need to make a move?  Do we have someone on the farm that will be ready in September?  We will find out soon enough.

National League All-Stars: Are Gio & Stras Locks?

Last night Matt Cain threw a perfect game for the San Francisco Giants.  It was his 8th win of the season (4th NL), struck out 14 batters (2nd NL w/ 96), and lowered his ERA to 2.18 (3rd NL).  Being on the west coast keeps Cain a little bit off of the radar but obviously he is an All-Star.

Most people in DC believe that Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez are also locks for the team.  However, there are a few other good NL pitchers that are also looking to get an all expenses paid trip to ... Kansas City.  So who are these other pitchers?

Keep in mind, the players/managers/coaches vote just 5 starters to the team and 3 relievers.  Tony LaRussa picks the other 7 or so pitchers from the starter or reliever pool.  It is early but these are my 7 locks right now, but Tony will probably pick 3-4 more starters.

Possible Starters:

1.  R.A. Dickey:  Nats fans know this knuckleballer because he dominated the Natty's last week, shutting out the Nats through 7 1/3, allowing only 4 hits and striking out 8.  Dickey currently has 10 wins (1st NL) and a 2.20 ERA (2nd NL).  LOCK

2.  Matt Cain:  See Above.  The Perfect Game may help his chances at being considered as a starter.  LOCK


3.  Stephen Strasburg:  First to 100 K's (1st NL).  2.45 ERA (9th NL).  8 wins.  Nats fans watch him dominate almost every game.  Gio's stats may be better, but Strasburg is the bigger name.  LOCK


The Rest:


4.  Gio Gonzalez:  With Strasburg on the Nats, Gio is somewhat underrated.  Keeping in mind he has pitched one less start than most of these other guys...He has 89 strikeouts (5th NL), he has only given up 1 homerun all year, and batters are batting only .168 (1st NL) against him.  Throw in a .235 ERA (6th NL).  LOCK

5.  Lance Lynn:  This Cardinals pitcher has 10 wins (1st NL) and an ERA of 2.42 (9th NL).  Those 10 wins will look good to the other players voting and Tony LaRussa seals the deal.  LOCK


Debatable:


6.  Brandon Beachy:  Beachy's 5-4 record doesn't look that great but the Braves pitcher has the lowest ERA in all of baseball, a 1.98.  He isn't a strikeout king, but batters are only hitting .176 against him (2nd NL).

7.  Cole Hamels:  Hamels has 9 wins and while his ERA is 3.34 (not top 10) he has 92 strikeouts (3rd NL)

Other Guys:

Unmentioned Guys in top 10 in ERA:  Ryan Vogelsong (Giants), Ryan Dempster (Cubs), James McDonald (Pirates-struck out 11 Nats in a Pirates win), Wade Miley (Diamondbacks)

Unmentioned Guys in top 10 in Wins:  Madison Bumgarner (Giants), Chris Capuano (Dodgers), Johnny Cueto (Reds), Zach Greinke (Brewers)

Unmentioned Guys in top 10 in K's:  Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), Bud Norris (Astros), Tim Lincecum (Giants)

I personally like James McDonald and Wade Miley to be manager choices, maybe Dempster, but knowing LaRussa it could be every player on the Cardinals.  It will be interesting to see if anything changes in the next month.