Strasburg Must-See TV

Last night I was out doing things around the house like cutting the grass, getting the pool ready to open, blah, blah blah. (Allow me a quick tangent here: Pools suck! Living in the Northeast, the amount of enjoyment you get from them doesn’t compare to the amount of work they are to open, maintain and close. Our pool was already here when we bought the house. If we would ever move or buy a house without a pool, I would never have one installed, unless of course, I could afford a pool boy. And by pool boy I mean a nerdy, fat kid with pimples, not the ones you see in movies that always end up the wife’s boy toy or something.) Anyways, while out doing yard work I told my wife to let me know when it was 7 o’clock because I wanted to see the first pitches in the debut of Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals against our very own Buccos. So I settled in front of the computer right before first pitch, logged on to my email and saw that a few buddies had already queued up an email chat to discuss Strasburg’s outing as it was happening. Some of the guys were at work, some were at home, four different cities were represented, and everyone stopped what they were doing to catch this guy pitch for the first time. You know something is kind of big when it gets to stop what you are doing and watch mode.

Strasburg surely did not disappoint those who were watching either. It took all of about two innings for my buddies and I to be sold on this guy. In 7 innings, Strasburg allowed 2 runs on four hits while striking out 14 guys and walking none (on only 94 pitches I might add). To put that performance in perspective, 14 strikeouts matches the single game high so far in the majors this year. It is third most strikeouts in a pitcher’s debut in the history of the game. His 14 strikeouts and 0 walks!? He is the first pitcher in Major League history, all 135 years, to strike out 11 or more and walk none in his debut. Heck, only 5 pitchers since 1900 have ever struck out 14 or more and walked none. Three of those guys (Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Mike Mussina) are headed to the Hall of Fame and the other two have had pretty strong careers (Javier Vazquez, Brad Penny). Some quick research by my friend revealed that the 94 pitches used to register his 14Ks were the least amount ever thrown in a 14 strikeout game. There is really only one word to describe Strasburg’s performance, dominating.

The kid, I say kid as Strasburg is just 21-years-old, used a consistent 97-101mph fastball to overpower hitters and that may not even have been his best pitch. And yes, you are reading that correctly as the TV radar gun showed over 100 mph a number of times throughout the night. It was Strasburg’s curveball, however, that was even more impressive as it seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Throw in an above average change-up and great command and you start to understand why there was so much hype surrounding this guy.

If for whatever reason you missed last night’s performance, be sure to catch Strasburg pitch the next time that you can. We may be watching the beginning of what may become a very storied career.