The Washington Nationals are a terrible, terrible baseball team. Since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington D.C. and became the Nats, they've won pretty much nothing. Their record inside the Beltway is far below .500, but there's always been hope in the form of one man: 2009 number one draft pick Stephen Strasburg. This kid, who can throw 103 miles an hour, has been long seen as the truth, and has been carefully brought along by the Nats for one purpose, and that's to come to the majors and blow peoples' minds. Well, he's here, and he's the truth.
Stephen Strasburg made his major league debut last night against the Pittsburgh Pirates (another terrible ball club). Strasburg threw 7 innings, struck out a staggering 14 batters (the most since J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros in 1971 and the second-highest debut of all time), threw over 100 miles an hour, and only gave up two earned runs in the process of picking up the win. Most importantly for a guy throwing in triple digits, he didn't walk any batters, showing impeccable control. It's the best pitching performance I've seen since Armando Galarraga's stolen game.
I don't want to sound too excited, but this kid just might be the best pitcher of the post-steroids era before it's all over.