Strasmas in DC

You know when you were a kid watching cartoons and the heat would get turned up, inevitably sending the mercury through the top of the thermometer and shattering it? Stephen Strasburg can do that with the K count. The guy literally broke the K count at Nationals Park tonight; there wasn't enough oversized scoreboard in right for all the Ks, so they just put a 12+ on and added two more. For a game that would have been really hard to disappoint, this so far exceeded already huge expectations that there really aren't words for it.

It was like watching a cartoon, or playing Madden on beginner level. I was there for the opener in 2005 and that was surreal; like Angelos and Selig were going to run over and pinch you to wake you up and not have baseball again. The rest of the pennant-contending year was great as well, but nothing matched this. It has been a long time since I have walked in and out of a sporting event in DC and seen everyone so genuinely happy. The Caps had a great year, but as soon as the playoffs started people walked in Verizon on pins and needles, praying to not be disappointed. Last time I saw people like that at a Skins game was when we beat the Cowboys in the season finale to clinch the playoffs a few years ago, but a lot of smiles vanished once fans saw the parking lot.

Everyone walking both in and out of the gates tonight was beaming. There will not be as much excitement for the rest of Strasburg's starts but there should be. There should be at least 35,000 at every start for this guy. When Strasburg is healthy, as he obviously was tonight, you would have to really hate baseball not to check him out a few times; Schilling was right, he is one of the best in the game right now. The hoopla leading up to the event was that DC is an event-driven town, like we are a bunch of Salahis looking to crash whatever event is dubbed the "big thing." But you could tell the crowd tonight was dying to show this is our sports town from the get-go, booing the ump for daring to call the first pitch a ball. (The ump by the way said that the first pitch even confused him, imagine what the batters are thinking.)

Strasburg's one bad pitch wasn't a bad pitch, it was a perfectly thrown, away changeup that Delwyn Young guessed right on. It happens. People were more nervous about Strasburg pulling a hamstring trying to get to first on his first at bat. The homer didn't even phase the crowd who were right back on there feet from the fifth inning on. And like the proverbial mercury in the thermometer, the heat of the atmosphere and the fastballs kept rising until it finally burst through with a seventh consecutive strikeout to end the seventh inning and Strasburg's debut. It wasn't the playoffs, it was better. That time will come, but what we have right now is amazing on its own. And once we do get to the playoffs, there may not be as many seats for people to witness this stuff. They might have to take out some seats to be able to tack up the Ks.