Empty, hankering, famished, starved, and carnivorous; all words that describe how Stephen Strasburg felt after his impressive debut against the Pirates Tuesday night.
Unlike me, he put it a lot simpler. He’s hungry.
Strasburg left the 7th inning having thrown 94 pitches, giving up a home run, two earned runs, fanning 14, and for the first time ever, leaving every fan (40,315) at Nationals Park screaming, standing, and “hungry” for more.
SportsCenter has become StrasCenter for the last 2 days, hyping his debut and basking in his first 7 innings of fame. However, as impressive as it was, I’m not entirely convinced by one outing.
Let me rephrase that… I’m not convinced, YET.
I’ll give him credit, he definitely held his composure and showed no signs of last night being his first major league game.
However, there are some factors we need to throw into the fire. The Pirates are dead last in the Majors in Runs Scored, RBI’s, and Batting average. They’re 25th overall in Homeruns, and 29th overall in hits. To say the least, they are good enough to win the anti-triple crown. This played a role in Strasburg’s success Tuesday night because he was practically facing the worst offensive team in the MLB.
Granted his curveball was untouchable and his fastball invisible. He still like every rookie, had some mistakes. His control was 50/50. He was hitting some spots dead on, and missing them by 2 or 3 feet. There were two control issues in particular that stand out to me. One of them didn’t help him, but finally brought a reality to the crowd and Strasburg himself, that I think everyone needed.
The first was a home run given up to Delwyn Young where he left a change up over the middle of the plate in a spot where every major leaguer can crush it for a four bagger. This is quite a big mistake even though it was only a two run homerun. But unlike some ball clubs, teams like the Nationals and Pirates can’t afford to let up more than a couple runs, since they don’t produce that many each night.
The other mistake was in favor of the young gun. He threw a breaking ball that not only broke about a foot and a half but missed the catcher’s target by twice that much. The batter however, didn’t have a chance and swung wildly at it for the strike three.
The kid (and yes I can call him kid since he’s about 2 years younger than myself) has stuff, there’s no doubt about that. I’m not taking anything away from his power, poise, and aggressiveness.
But I would love to see him face a line up with at least a little bit of talent. If the schedule goes as planned, His next four opponents will consist of the Indians, White Sox, Orioles, and Braves. If you asked me, and you must be otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, We’re not going to see what this kid’s really made of until he faces Atlanta.
WARNING: EXTREME STATS COMING AT YOU!!!
Until Strasburg theoretically pitches against the Braves, he’ll be facing 3 more of the worst offensive teams in the MLB.
The follow stats are as follows: Batting Average = Cleveland 26th, Chicago (AL) 28th, Baltimore 24th.
Runs Scored = Cleveland 26th, Chicago (AL) 25th, Baltimore 28th.
Hits = Cleveland 27th, Chicago (AL) 30th, Baltimore 25th.
In fact the only thing that Baltimore might have going for them is they don’t strike out a lot as they’re only 6th in team whiffs. However, they will be right down the road from Nationals Park, so I’m pretty sure the crowd will be helping to pump the blood through the veins of Strasburg fast than 2 Viagra’s and a bottle of scotch.
Although I did hear that scotch helped David Wells with his perfect game.
For a pitcher who practically tore the Pirates roster a new one, these next few teams should be fairly simple, considering they are almost the same team as Pittsburgh.
So grab your day planner and mark your calendars. Pick up the phone and make your reservation now, because Strasburg is sure to serve up a few plates of success these next few starts. But come his “theoretical” start against the Braves, he might want to have the pepto bismol handy.
No comments:
Post a Comment