Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg, seen during a spring training game, will pitch before a sellout crowd on Tuesday.
Posted on 06/08/2010 5:43:22 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Stephen Strasburg will walk to the mound at Nationals Park tonight. He will fulfill a dream and, more urgently, feel a certain kind of release. The middle of a baseball diamond is the one site, more than ever, where he is most at ease, where the autograph hunters can't touch him and the cameras don't bother him. Strasburg is lucky to be so good at something he loves so much.
"Pick your favorite place in the world," said Kathy Swett, Strasburg's mother, back in spring training after he made his first spring training start. "That's where he feels most comfortable. Just playing."
This is where Strasburg wants to be. Before he left San Diego for spring training, he asked Tony Gwynn, his college coach, "What do you do when you want to make a team out of spring training and you know you're not going to get a chance to?" The wait has been just as tough for him as it was for fans.
"He wanted to make it out of spring training and go north with the big club," Gwynn said.
He'll get to pitch now, no more wondering or waiting. Strasburg has thrown in the high-90s, maybe not touching 100 mph as often as he did in college. This, Gwynn explained, is both by design and a good thing. Strasburg can get batters out while throwing 97. Why not conserve and pitch eight inning instead of seven? Why not save something extra for when he needs it?
The thing his eye-popping stuff conceals, Gwynn said, is his artistry as a pitcher. Strasburg can throw 100, but he understands his craft like a junkballer. "He loves the art of pitching," Gwynn said.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg, seen during a spring training game, will pitch before a sellout crowd on Tuesday.
Hey, how are you? Strasburg played for our farm team, Harrisburg Senators just a few weeks ago. I recently went to a Nationals game...it was military appreciation night and so fun. The Air Force Drill team performed magnificent feats!
on MLB network; eleven strikeouts through six
make that twelve through six and a third...
And no walks.
2 runs, 4 hits, 13 strike outs in the 7th! 7 of the last 8 Pirates struck out.
He looks very good and the crowd is loving it.
Nats are winning 4-2.
5 K’s in a row..........6 out of the last 7
I see he is pitching against another AAA team tonight!
.........6 in a row
he just struck out the side fourteen Ks
14 K's
Struck out the side in the 6th and 7th.
I’m doing good, thanks for asking. You’ve had the privilege to witness Strasburg pitch at a minor league game. It’s like watching a young Roger Clemens pitch.
If he strikes out the remaining 6 batters, he’ll tie Kerry Wood and Roger Clemens for most strike outs of all time (20 K’s)
K’d the entire Pirate lineup.
Second coming of Walter Johnson.
The coaches are limiting him to 100 pitches, so he’s probably done for the night.
He’s done for the night- what a great start in the bigs.
....or Karl Spooner.
sure was. good luck and a long career for this young man.
The coaches are smart to do that. Just look at what happened to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.
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