Running Blog For Stephen Strasburg’s First MLB Start

Tonight, it's for reals, son. For real? For real reals

The time has come. The phenom has arrived. It’s obvious that he was ready for the big time and his first start is tonight.

Tonight, the major leagues will get formally introduced to Mike Stanton.

Oh, and this Steven Strausberg nobody.

But as hyped as I am for Stanton’s first MLB game, I think there’s something special with this pitcher, so I’m going to be writing a running blog for his game instead.

The best thing about Strasburg’s first start is that it finally provides a stopping point for these endless previews and buzz. As soon as he delivers that first pitch (fastball, high for ball one, I think), it’ll just be all about baseball.

3:45 p.m. The best take on Strasburg’s first start has come from one of his opponents tonight, Pirates outfielder Delwyn Young. Young, a busted Dodgers draft pick who is batting fifth tonight and playing right field, was asked about facing Strasburg and his response is absolutely classic.

3.48 p.m. By the way, here are tonight’s lineups. Outside of McCutchen and Jones, there aren’t a lot of threats to a pitcher of Strasburg’s talent.

3:49 p.m. Since everyone wants to compare Strasburg to every other big-name pitcher when they made their first starts, NBC put up a pretty nice slideshow consisting of 20 of today’s best pitchers and how they on their first time out.

One thing of note: Only Jimenez, Gallardo and Wainwright threw more than six innings among that group. I would expect no more than that tonight.

3:54 p.m. Most expect him to dominate against such a weak lineup, but I would like to know how many of you would like to see him relatively fail. You know, something like five runs and eight hits with only four strikeouts in five innings.

It’s happened before (look at Tim Lincecum’s first start). But at home against a lineup hitting .237, it’s a hard sell.

3:56 p.m. I’m watching this game on MLB Network. When they had the camera on Strasburg as he began his walk out to the bullpen for his warm-up pitches, you could see him looking into the upper decks and privately smirking. He knows how big he is right now.

4:00 p.m. Listening to Bob Costas present all of Strasburg’s outstanding numbers just makes me roll my eyes. You know how much of that doesn’t matter at this league? All of it. Just ask Luke Hochevar from 2008 and 2009.

4:01 p.m. Holy Jesus, look at that crowd!

4:04 p.m. And Stephen Strasburg takes the mound. His warm-up pitches have already been named the best of any pitcher since Walter Johnson.

4:06 p.m. Fastball at 97 MPH starts us off. That ball will be found in the Hall of Fame.