PHENOMenal

Thanks to the wonders of MLB.TV, the laptop was able to give this old Fan a real treat as Stephen Strasburg did not disappoint anyone in his debut. His stuff was amazing. Yeah, it was the Pirates, but even so, he was amazing. He featured a fastball that ranged from 95 to 100 all night and it is not some straight fastball. It is very reminiscent of Ubaldo Jiminez's fastball that darts to the right. Then he throws an 82 MPH curve that just buckles the batter's knees.

What was amazing to watch was how much the fans in the stadium got into the game from the very beginning. Obviously, the place was packed (this kid is going to sell tickets!). And from his very first strike and very first out (a liner to short by McCutchen) and then every strikeout after that, the fans went crazy. Nobody in the crowd was sitting down the entire time the kid pitched.

Strasburg featured good control and even though he struck out 14 batters (only!?) in seven innings, he still threw only 94 pitches. He threw 69% of his pitches for strikes. Pittsburgh or no Pittsburgh, it was a very impressive outing. His only blemish was getting cute with Delwyn Young and throwing him a change up that Young deposited in the right field seats. He learned from giving a little guy a break and Young got nothing but fastballs the rest of the night and didn't come close to hitting any of them.

So to recap a very fun night, Strasburg got 21 outs and 14 of them were strikeouts. He didn't walk any and only gave up four hits (including Young's homer). Despite all the hype and all the stress placed on the guy, he delivered more than we ever expected. It was a big day for baseball, a big day for the Nationals and the Fan is sure glad of today's technology that allowed this old guy to be a part of it all.

Oh! And Mike Stanton went three for five in his debut in a Marlins' loss.