Unless you’ve been under a rock the past week, you know that young phenom Stephen Strasburg made his major league debut down in Washington last night.
While the Orioles sadly got pounded — again — by the Evil Empire as mentioned by James in his earlier post in Charm City; meanwhile, down the parkway in Washington, Strasburg lived up to the hype and more.
I live about halfway in between Washington and Baltimore, so I decided to head down there since I was offered an extra ticket in a real nice location in the seating bowl.
Anyhow, going to Nationals Park many, many times in the past as fan who wanted to see the National League, it has always been a fairly good experience — however, rather tame and lacking in life.
That was not the case on Tuesday. Although this was a regular season game where the Nationals played the Pirates, you would have never known it based the media presence down there. You would have thought a playoff game was taking place based on the buzz and the fans. Coming down to Washington for this game was worth the price of admission and more.
The crowd was hanging on every pitch, and did Strasburg ever perform on a huge stage. I’ve never seen a young man on the mound show such poise and competitiveness at such a stage in his development as a major league player.
His fastball was vicious, but I was even more impressed with his use of his off-speed pitches – especially his curveball and change-up. At times (especially towards the end of his outing), Strasburg made it seem that he was a man facing some boys.
One game may not make a career; however, if Strasburg’s performance is any indication to his potential (God willing he stays healthy), a star is going to be born.
