STRASBURG ELECTRIFIES D.C

As Stephen Strasburg warmed up in the bullpen, making final preparations for a game he has awaited all his young life, Stevie Wonder was playing through the speakers at Nationals Park. "Oh, baby, here I am,'' Wonder crooned. "Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours.'' Strasburg wasted no time showing why this is a very good thing for baseball followers, in particular the fans of the Washington Nationals, who finally have hope for life after last place. With 40,315 jammed into a park that wasn't one-quarter full when Randy Johnson won his 300th game last June, the 21-year-old from San Diego State blew away the Pittsburgh Pirates over seven innings, striking out 14 while winning his debut in dramatic fashion. Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman called it "a special night,'' and catcher Ivan Rodriguez said it was "a good show.'' Strasburg himself spoke the loudest with his right arm, which once allowed him to strike out 23 in college. Back-to-back home runs by Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham in the sixth inning provided the lead for Strasburg. He could have hung nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard had Rodriguez, the future Hall of Famer, not called for a 1-0 changeup to Delwyn Young, which was deposited in the first rows of the right-field bleachers for a two-run home run. Otherwise Strasburg put on a 94-pitch clinic, illustrating why the Nationals were willing to invest a record $15.1 million in him after a down-to-the-wire negotiation with agent Scott Boras last summer. Boras' reputation for hyping his clients is legendary, but Strasburg's debut made you wonder if he has been undersold. "This is the only time you'll ever hear this from me,'' Nationals President Stan Kasten said. "About Stephen, Scott was not exaggerating.'' An all-business kid who proposed to his girlfriend in the Instructional League and got married shortly thereafter, the pitcher focused so hard he couldn't count the innings. "The only thing I really remember was the first pitch,'' Strasburg said. "It was a ball inside. Everything else was a blur. At one point I lost track of how many innings I threw. It was like I'm just going to go out and have fun. It's just like getting married. You go out, want to remember everything, and when it's over you can't remember a single thing.'' Strasburg, who opened the season with 11 starts in the minor leagues after pitching well enough in spring training to possibly open his career in the National League, experienced his first curtain call from the crowd and his first postgame pie in the face, courtesy of teammate John Lannan. He was as much in control as he was overpowering. His walked none while setting a franchise record for strikeouts (one short of the record for a major league debut, shared by the Brooklyn Dodgers' Karl Spooner and the Houston Astros' J.R. Richard), and only went to a three-ball count on three hitters. Strasburg's strikeouts came in bunches, including the last seven hitters of the game. He finished his night by blowing away Young and Andy LaRoche on three pitches each, with both going down flailing helplessly at 99-mph fastballs. He threw 35 pitches at 98 mph or harder (including two at 100 mph) and 18 that Pittsburgh hitters swung and missed. The Pirates swung at 39 pitches total, putting only eight in play. "He was very good,'' Pirates left fielder Lastings Milledge said. "Very poised. The kid had great, great location … He was so good with command of his off-speed and putting away righties with his changeup. There's a lot of good things to be excited about this kid." This wasn't quite Kerry Wood striking out 20 Houston Astros in his fifth career start, but given the scrutiny he was under it was at least as impressive. Riggleman, the Cubs' manager in Wood's rookie-of-the-year season, noted the similarities. "As he went through the game, that's what Kerry would do,'' Riggleman said. "He would just get on a roll where he got a lot of swings and misses.'' Strasburg and 2010 first overall pick Bryce Harper — still unsigned and represented by Boras — are viewed as climate-changers for the lowly Nationals, who are coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons and rank 24th in the majors in attendance at their beautiful ballpark just down the street from the Capitol. "We can't ask [fans] to come out until you earn it,'' Riggleman said. "This was kind of a night you earn it to get some of them to come back.'' (LA Times)