After Washington Nationals’ rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg dazzled in his major league debut, people couldn’t wait to see what he would do as an encore yesterday against the Cleveland Indians. While Strasburg didn’t mow through the Indians like he did the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was still pretty effective.
The Nationals beat the Indians 9-4 behind 5.1 innings of two-hit baseball from Strasburg. If you are asking why Strasburg only pitched 5.1 despite giving up two hits, the answer is simple—walks. Strasburg didn’t walk a batter in his debut, but walked five against the Indians.
Two of those walks came in the sixth when Strasburg was having issues with the Cleveland mound. The dirt on the mound was so bad that Strasburg was slipping as he delivered the ball to home plate. I have pitched on Little League mounds that looked like they were in better condition than what Strasburg and everyone else for that matter was pitching on yesterday.
Once that mound got into Strasburg’s head, he was done. He was worried more about where he was going to land rather than where the pitch is going to go and when that happens, forget about it. After Strasburg’s second walk he was removed from the game.
Overall, I thought Strasburg was very good, but not great. His secondary pitches weren’t as sharp as they were against the Pirates. However, I thought his fastball might have been better on Sunday than it was on his first start. He was pretty electric throughout the game.
Through two games, Strasburg is 2-0 with 22 K’s in 12.1 innings of work. His next start will be against the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
One last thing. The Indians drew 32,876 for this game. Their last Sunday game was against in-state rivals the Cincinnati Reds. That game drew 21,044.
Strasburg was a difference of about 14,000 fans for the Indians. Yes folks, the kid is a phenomenon.
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