Ross Detwiler was the Nationals' first pick in the 2007 draft (sixth overall) out of Missouri State, also the alma mater of Toronto starter Shaun Marcum. Detwiler suffered some velocity loss in 2008 that jeopardized his big league future, but on Wednesday, his stuff was very close to where it was in college. He pitched from 89 to 94 mph with his fastball and showed a solid-average changeup at 83-85 with good arm speed but limited action. His two weaknesses were his breaking ball and his control; the curveball is never going to be a weapon for him; it's slow and looks even slower than its 75-78 velocity. His control hasn't been good in pro ball, and I saw him on a particularly wild night. Because he cuts his delivery off, he has to work harder to get the ball in to his glove side, and it's possible that effort is hurting his ability to throw strikes. Given his age and athleticism, I'd give him more than a passing chance to improve that control to the point where it's average or slightly above, which would make him a solid fourth starter in the big leagues. I got a brief look at the Nationals' Ian Desmond, who started two of the three games against the Dodgers, and only one of those two starts came at his regular position of shortstop. (The other start, at second base, was a disaster defensively, and while I'll cut him some slack for playing a new position, the transition from short to second isn't usually a difficult one, as the distance from the fielder to the hitter is close to or exactly the same.) At the plate, Desmond has some bat speed but a pretty heavy leak on to his front foot that will inhibit his power production. He was overeager at the plate, swinging early in the count and expanding the zone far too quickly. He's well-built and athletic with above-average speed, but his path to major league value is probably going to come through increasing his contact rate and hitting for average, as he doesn't project to have good secondary skills at the plate right now. He just turned 24 and has time to improve his selectivity or learn to keep his weight back to better drive the ball. I wrote in a chat the other day that Chad Billingsley was "awful," but should clarify that what was awful was his command and approach, not the quality of his stuff. He worked primarily with four pitches, a 90-94 mph fastball, his usual 77-79 mph curveball (sharp all night except for the disgusting hanger he threw to Ryan Zimmerman, who flew out of his shoes when he saw it coming), and an 88-89 mph cutter I hadn't seen from him before that could be almost as good a weapon for him as the curveball. He started out just missing the edges of the zone with his fastball, but as the game went on he was missing his spots by wider margins, and eventually lobbed the garbage curveball that cost the Dodgers the game. Washington's lineup isn't as strong as those of the three teams currently occupying NL playoff spots, so Billingsley's outing couldn't have given the Dodgers much confidence in how he might perform against the Phillies or Cardinals in the NLDS.