It’s rare that the event lives up to the hype, but the first start of Stephen Strasburg was simply awesome.

He blew batters away with a fastball that reached 101, broke off a number of wicked curveballs, and kept hitters off stride with a killer change up.  Strasburg struck out eight of the last nine batters he faced – including the last seven in a row before leaving after seven innings.  His 14 strikeout performance was the most Ks in a debut since J.R. Richard (who had Strasburg’s stuff), who fanned 15 on September 5, 1971.  However, Richard allowed three runs, walked three batters, and pitched all nine innings.  At the rate Strasburg was going, he’d have made a run at 18 Ks.

Look – you can’t project a career on one game, but if you didn’t come away from the game without feeling like you have seen the future and the future is the ace of the Nationals, you had to have been asleep.  Yes – when he comes to Florida, I will be there.

Wow!