es, who knows, we could win the Four Nations and really give the

WASHINGTON -- Watching Stephen Strasburg on the mound in 90-degree heat, Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker recalled how he heard the right-hander would wilt in these situations.Nothing about Strasburgs outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, or any other opponent this season, has resembled wilting. Strasburg is the first National League starting pitcher to begin a season 13-0 in more than 100 years, a recapturing of the dominance he showed early in his career before Tommy John surgery.Strasburg has won 16 consecutive decisions dating back to September and during that stretch has struck out 182 batters and walked 37. This season his 2.51 ERA is sixth in the majors, and his command of his pitches is reflected in the numbers.In my opinion this has been the best year Ive seen him pitch, catcher Wilson Ramos said through an interpreter. Hes been very effective attacking the zone, keeping the ball down. Hes been hitting his spots very well with all his pitches. Usually a starter that attacks the zone like that and doesnt miss his spots very much will usually has success like hes been having.Mixing his overpowering fastball with a cutter, curveball and change-up, Strasburg has thrown an impressive 66.4 percent of his pitches for strikes this season, and yet batters are hitting .195 against him with only 11 home runs in 17 starts.Perhaps the most impressive number is the zero in the loss column.He hasnt lost, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. Thats pretty hard to do up here. Its in late July and he hasnt lost a game. Whatever hes doing, hes probably going to continue it.Strasburgs 13 victories to open a season are tied with teammate Max Scherzer and Ron Guidry as the sixth-longest streak in major league history and mark the longest in the NL for a starter since Rube Marquard of the New York Giants went 18-0 in 1912.Asked if this felt like a 13-0 season, the 27-year-old didnt know how to answer.The results, I cant control, said Strasburg, who signed a $175 million, seven-year contract extension in May. Im trying to go out there and execute pitches and roll with the highs and lows. Its always going to be that way. You ask any veteran pitcher in the league, there are years where they feel like they really dominated all year and just didnt have the numbers to show for it and there are other years where they feel like they realty didnt pitch to the level they expected and they had all the numbers to show for it.There are tangible explanations for Strasburgs numbers, and Baker said it starts off the field. The veteran baseball man said the Nationals staff urged Strasburg to increase his work between starts.After an injury-filled 2015 that included a strained left trapezius muscle, a strained oblique and other tweaks that had little to do with pitching, Strasburg changed his workout approach. He may not work out more, but he does it differently.As Ive gotten older its not trying to go out there and lift the house in the weight room, Strasburg said. I think Ive just been trying to get back to square one, ready for the next start. Throwing that many pitches, doing that over and over again, it kind of takes a beating on your body, so were just trying to work with the training staff and identify what areas I need to work on to get feeling good for the next one.Strasburg missed two weeks this season with an upper-back strain, but that didnt slow him down. Since returning from the disabled list July 3, he has allowed just two earned runs on five hits and struck out 20 in 21 2/3 innings.Some of that dominance is mental, according to Ramos, who said Strasburg had the tendency in previous years to get down when things didnt go his way or the defense let him down. Ramos has talked to Strasburg extensively about letting his pitches work and the defense take care of things.We have a great team playing behind him and hes finally taken to that and hes pitched extremely well and the teams helped him out a lot, Ramos said. 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The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season.Former Balmain and England star Garry Schofield has called for a major English influx into the NRL to boost the countrys flagging fortunes.The Golden Boot winner wants to see Great Britain increase its representation in the Australian competition to 60 players.England coach Wayne Bennett has chosen eight players who featured in the NRL in 2016 in his 19-man squad for Saturdays Four Nations opener against New Zealand.New Zealand are the worlds top-ranked side, but the star-studded Kangaroos head into the Four Nations tournament as favourites and will be considered hard to beat at next years World Cup.Great British and English teams have not beaten Australia in an Ashes series since 1970 and they have never won the Tri-Nations or Four Nations.The last time they lifted the World Cup was 1972 and their last Test win over the Kangaroos was when Great Britain triumphed 23-12 in the Four Nations in 2006.Schofield, who played 46 games for the Tigers in the 1980s, said Englishmen who went to the NRL returned better players.It is intense week-in week-out. It madde us better players, Schofield told Sky Sports Radio.ddddddddddddFor us to get better at international level, and to be consistent at international level, I would like to see 40, 50, 60 of our fellas playing in the NRL because it is the best competition in the world.Former captain Schofield played 49 times for England and Great Britain, winning the Golden Boot Award for worlds best player in 1990.Schofield said the form of English-born NRL players Josh Hodgson, Elliott Whitehead, James Graham and Sam Burgess showed the country was headed in the right direction.And that coupled with the guidance of Brisbane supercoach Bennett could have them upsetting Australia and New Zealand at upcoming tournaments, according to Schofield.The mental game that Wayne Bennett has, if he can get the best out of the players for the 80 minutes, who knows, we could win the Four Nations and really give the World Cup a big shake-up, Schofield said. ' ' '