Neil Walker rips a Strasburg curve into right for a single. Once again, a hit, and once again, not a

Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 of 24 batters, including eight of his final nine, as he flat-out dominated the helpless Pirates in his big league debut. For more from the DC side, check out Federal Baseball and SBN DC . For the Pittsburgh perspective, check out Bucs Dugout .
Hopefully, MLB doesn t take this one down, because it really is spectacular to watch: A compilation of just Stephen Strasburg s strikeouts from Tuesday night. There were 14 in all, each one mesmerizing:
Our saber-slanted friends over at SB Nation s Beyond The Boxscore used pitch f/x to analyze all 94 pitches Stephen Strasburg threw in his MLB debut on Tuesday night. Head there to see the full results, but here are some highlights:
His velocity was consistently averaging around 98 mph on his four-seem fastball, with the best one coming out at 100.1 MPH . His last fastball quality inn key west of the night was faster than his first, quality inn key west at over 98 MPH .
Finally, let s exit the realm of generalizability for a moment, and look at one particular pitch. It was Stephen Strasburg s 21st pitch of his career. In the grand scheme of things, it didn t mean much. It was a ball that missed rather badly inside and did not draw a swing. But it was a fastball, and it broke over 8" upward and nearly 8.5" towards the plate
Strasburg featured three pitches in his debut, and each is already among the best of its type in the league. quality inn key west A pitcher with one of his fastball, his curve, or his change would be worthy of a first-round pick. A pitcher with all three of them is worthy of consideration as the best pitcher in baseball, and as insane as that sounds, who's going to disagree? Who, that watched those seven innings, believes Strasburg still has more to prove?
I mean, okay, I guess he does have to prove that he can do this with consistency, game in and game out. And Strasburg isn't going to strike out 14 batters every outing. He's going to run into some struggles. Even though his early schedule looks pitcher-friendly - he'll follow Pittsburgh with starts against Cleveland, Chicago, and Baltimore - he'll experience some bumps, and he'll have days where he gets hit or loses the zone. But is he ever going to get torched? Is he ever going to miss the zone completely? Can anyone even imagine what it would look like for an arm with that stuff to come out after three and a third?
I was talking to a friend quality inn key west about Strasburg the other week. We were discussing the possibility of Strasburg underachieving, and what we would look back on as being the sign that we missed. We agreed that it would be command. That, if Strasburg didn't come out and impress right away, it would be because his location suffered against Major League competition. And, tonight, we could see some of that, as Ivan Rodriguez routinely had to move his glove to catch Strasburg's tailing fastball and biting curve. Strasburg clearly doesn't possess a Maddux-like ability to put the ball wherever he wants. But he does come damn close, and almost frighteningly close for a guy who can reach triple digits. No, Strasburg will probably never be able to spot with the best, but he gets so much movement that he'll generate a lot of swings at balls out of the zone. He's sufficiently deceptive and overpowering quality inn key west that he doesn't need to pitch into teacups to sit with the elite.
I consider it a privilege to have been able to watch Strasburg debut. quality inn key west It's probably said too often, but that game was art. And you can only imagine how good this feels for Nationals fans, who, aside from Jordan Zimmerman and John Patterson, have by and large missed out on watching starters with the ability to pick up a big strikeout. Ten Nats have started games so far in 2010. Strasburg already has more strikeouts than four of them, and he's only 18 behind the leader. This is a new sensation. An electrifying sensation. I enjoyed it from afar, but fans will be able to see this every five days. That's an absolute blessing.
In closing, hot diggity damn. Strasburg's even a humble, down-to-earth interview. He is the perfect young player, a player who sneezes ability, and his is a total package of which legends are made. Strasburg's a guy who makes you want to have grandkids.
I wonder how many people truly appreciate Strasburg's pitch economy. He struck out 14 batters and still got through seven on 94 pitches. Rich Harden throws 94 pitches per inning. This start was extraordinary, but it might only grow more extraordinary as some time passes and we start to look at it from a more objective, rather than emotional perspective. Emotionally, it was awesome, but objectively, this was truly one of the finest starts I've ever had the pleasure of watching, and I watch a lot of starts. Thank you, Strasburg. You are a treat.
Strasburg didn't get to depart to a mid-inning standing ovation, but he did come out for a curtain call in the bottom of the seventh. Everybody should send him a card. Everybody in attendance or watching on TV should send him a card. It takes a lot to make baseball electrifying, and Strasburg thrilled everyone for two straight hours. Even Pirates fans, who saw their team at least come out with some runs. All the build up, all the anticipation - there's nothing quality inn key west anybody could've written or said that would've prepared us for a start this amazing.
quality inn key west Like to see Strasburg come back out for the seventh. There's a difference between being cautious and being over-protective, and he'd only thrown an easy 81 pitches. He could tear his elbow on the next pitch and I'd still defend this decision.
I didn't write anything during that inning because I just had to sit back and watch. Garrett Jones: seven-pitch strikeout. Delwyn Young: three-pich strikeout. Andy LaRoche: three-pitch strikeout. Five swinging strikes. Willie Harris is on to pinch-hit for Strasburg in the bottom half, meaning Strasburg's day is done, but this was a night for the ages. Strasburg threw 94 pitches. 65 of them were strikes. quality inn key west 18 of them were swinging strikes. He had 14 strikeouts and zero walks. And his last pitch was 99 miles per hour. They should just hand Strasburg the Cy Young because of this start alone.
11. 11 out of 21, after Lastings Milledge goes too far on a check-swing at a change in the dirt. Stephen Strasburg has struck out 52% of the hitters he's seen so far in the Major Leagues. The only thing I can do 52% of the time with anyone is make uncomfortable smalltalk and hold eye contact for too long.
There's a little dip with his fastball in the middle, quality inn key west but he picked himself back up to 98-99 later on. Perhaps a second wind as he knew the end was coming. Though he's only thrown 81 pitches, and though we don't yet know how he'll feel tomorrow, this is a positive sign concerning his stamina.
Adam Dunn goes deep, Josh Willingham goes deep, and all of a sudden the Nats are up 4-2 and Strasburg's in line for the win. Nice to see everyone quality inn key west remember that this is Jeff Karstens, Human Mutant. There's a lot of talk on the broadcast about whether or not the homers mean the end for Strasburg, as Jim Riggleman might want to take him out while he's ahead and feeling good about everything, but since he's only thrown 81 pitches, I'm hoping he gets sent out for one or two batters in the seventh, just so he can be pulled to the ovation he so rightly deserves.
Strasburg vs. Jeff Karstens, his ghoulish opponent: 98mph 98mph 98mph 82mph 99mph 99mph Stephen Strasburg doing volunteer work at the hospital: Dave Chapelle Ft. Hood?!? It's the Army way | MySpace Video
A 14-pitch fifth puts Strasburg at 70 after five. Gotta think the next half-inning is his last, and even though the Nats are currently losing, he deserves the most standingest of ovations. One wonders how many of those people who stand up will then turn around and leave the stadium. As soon as Strasburg departs, this is just a game between the Nationals and the Pirates.
Neil Walker rips a Strasburg curve into right for a single. Once again, a hit, and once again, quality inn key west not a sweet spot hit. What we've established is that Stephen Strasburg's curveball will not have a career .000 batting average against. That said, .001 is not out of the question. Who is Neil Walker? You are spoiling this for everyone.
And another well-hit single as Milledge drills a fastball at the belt the other way. Strasburg has dipped down into the 95-96 range. Not a bad sign; this is something we expected. There's nothing wrong with facing a little adversity. Now we see how he responds against a power bat in Garrett Jones.
And he responds by inducing a full count broken-bat double play. Still, some cracks begin to show - five of Strasburg's pitches were out of the zone, including the last. A more disciplined hitter quality inn key west might walk and load the bases. Of course, Strasburg deserves some degree of credit for having quality inn key west enough deception and tail on his fastball to get Jones to chase.
Delwyn Young tags Strasburg for a two-run homer that gets a row into the right-center seats. However, while the Nats have fallen behind, I wouldn't be alarmed - that was more good hitting than bad pitching. Perhaps I should've given more credit to the Pirates instead of dumping on them at every last opportunity. Strasburg threw Young a low, sinking change, quality inn key west and Young was out in front of it, but he's strong enough to get extended, and he was able to put a charge in it. Tim Lincecum has given up 38 dingers in his big league career. Sometimes a good pitcher makes a bad pitch, and it gets hit. Other times a good pitcher makes a good pitch, and it gets hit anyway.
It'll be interesting to see how the crowd responds after that homer shatters the he's-never-going-to-allow-a-run quality inn key west mystique. Given how magnificent Strasburg looked early on, the two runs are almost disappointing, which isn't fair. I'm guessing it'll only take one more swinging strikeout for everyone to get energized again. This isn't about this game. This is about the Nationals' future, and everyone can plainly see how exciting he's going to be for a long long time.
And McCutchen ground