Ho-hum. Another week, another ridiculous performance by Stephen Strasburg.

For any other pitcher, an 18-strikeout game would be stop-the-presses news. For Strasburg, it was routine.

The San Diego State righthander whiffed 18 while walking one and allowing two runs on five hits over eight innings in a 5-3 win against rival San Diego on Thursday night. Friend of BA Kirk Kenney was on hand and blogged the game; despite touching 99 mph in the first inning, Strasburg was actually hittable early. Not so much later on: At one point, he retired 11 in a row, nine on strikeouts.

In case you’re wondering, Strasburg is now 3-0, 1.77 with a mind-boggling 45-4 strikeout-walk ratio in 20 innings. For comparison’s sake, David Price had a 28-5 strikeout-walk ratio in 18 innings over his first three starts in 2007 (although one of those was against top-ranked Rice; Strasburg hasn’t faced that sort of competition yet).