That's a Debut

We saw and heard about it all day. Every sports channel had some type of reference to it every half an hour. ESPN added to the hoopla by displaying a countdown to the long anticipated debut of Washington Nationals rookie pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

And what a debut it was. 7 innings, 2 earned runs, 4 hits, 14 strikeouts (are you serious?), and 0 walks. Strasburg threw 94 pitches...65 were strikes. Did I forget to mention he struck out the last seven batters he faced? Sorry.

Strasburg only made one mistake all night, a changeup that Delwyn Young deposited into the right field seats. Someone had the souvenir, but launced it back onto the field of play. That guy's probably wanting the ball back. That was a college fund he tossed back onto the Nationals Park turf.

Even with all the hype and hysteria surrounding today's game, Strasburg still appeared low key in his presser after the game. He admitted to adrenaline started flowing at about 2:00 PM. How could he not have been a bit hyped up since his first outing was being hyped up? But Strasburg knew what this was all about. It was about his first start. And there will be others. He knows that, too. It's not about only one game. It's about a season and then some. But he took a chance to reflect on that "one time".

"[My teammates] just kept telling me to soak it all in -- good or bad, you only get one debut. I was just soaking it all in. It was a tremendous experience, especially in front of a packed house like this."

How about 40,315 in that packed house? About 200 media requests plus the radio and network crews that regularly carry Nationals and Pirates games. A lot of people in that joint tonight.

And Nationals manager Jim Riggleman was quick to heap praise on his prized right hander.

"When you see guys like this come along, it's really special. He's humble -- just really a guy that the Nationals are really proud of. Hopefully, we can keep him healthy and keep it going."

No, I'm not downplaying the effort the kid made tonight. It was as advertised. I'm curious as to how he reacts to adversity. How will the rookie be when he experiences a bad outing at this level? That's the big question to answer now.

That, or I'll keep asking myself if Curt Schilling really is right.