Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is impressed. Stephen Strasburg was really THAT good last night.
Your Maximum Leader watched one of Strasburg’s starts at AAA and felt he was really ready for the big show. But there was still a nagging thought in his mind that once Strasburg started facing all big league batters you might see a crack in his game.
Well… So far no cracks in Strasburg’s game.
Your Maximum Leader wasn’t too far off in his predictions. Nats did win. Strasburg got the win. And Strasburg’s ERA was 2.57 and not 3.1X. Your Maximum Leader didn’t believe that Strasburg was going to pitch a perfect game (or a no hitter even) in his first outing.
Strasburg struck out 14. He didn’t walk anyone (that was a feat that deserves a little more praise). His movement to the plate is short and quick. A little statistic people aren’t mentioning but should. That game last night was 2 hours and 20 minutes long. If it hadn’t been for commericals your Maximum Leader bets it would have been under 2 hours. It was a great start to what your Maximum Leader hopes will be a long and distinguished career (most of it in Washington).
All in all Nationals fans have a lot to be excited about. If Strasburg can pitch like this every fifth night, and if Drew Storen is able to move into that starting rotation soon; then the Nats will have two dominating pitchers and a good chance to pull out wins in 2/5th of their games.
If your Maximum Leader has been tenative up to now he isn’t anymore. That Strasburg kid can really pitch good. (NB: Your Maximum Leader isn’t ready to annoint him the second coming of Walter Johnson yet, but he understands the comparisons better now.)
Carry on.