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Lookout Landing

6/8: Open Strasburg Thread


Stephen Strasburg

#37 / Pitcher / Washington Nationals

6-4

220

R

R

Jul 20, 1988


Because god knows you'll be watching and talking.

I'm going to be liveblogging over here for SBN. If Strasburg comes out early enough - and he's supposedly on a limit of around 90 pitches - there'll be plenty of time to switch back and watch Felix, which is really kind of amazing.

The Pirates' lineup is ohmygod awful.

0 recs  |  788 comments

Comments

Every time I see that photo I think to myself he looks just like Lukas Haas from such films as Mars Attacks!

ImageHost.org

I have it TiVo'ing at home... Should get home around the second or third inning

Just in time to watch commercial free for awhile!

And God Dammit 2008 Mariners....
GOD I HATE THEM SO MUCH
I keep thinking, "He should be a Mariner"

Not to mention, “Those should be le Expos”.

Les Expos

like Les Bians.

I totally forgot to do this.
I did too - thankfully DirecTV lets you do it online..
I was just about to say, if only DirecTV didn't have such shitty customer service when we tried to get them last year... I would be able to do that.
The few perks of having DirecTV

Are not worth dealing the mountain of human feces they call “customer service.”

Seriously, if you want to experience rage, sign up with DirecTV and then call them to try and deal with a problem. There’s a reason our state just filed a big class action lawsuit.

Why a pitch count?

Wasn’t he stretched out in the minors?

The 90 pitch limit is nothing

It only takes 81 to strike everyone out.

I was going to say he could still go eight innings easily against this Pirate lineup.
I wouldn't make fun

The Pirates offense is just BARELY worse than the M’s.

Well, we do make fun of our own
Rob Johnson!

Lawn dart! The face plant!

Strasburg!
Yes, he is the reason for this thread.

Good job Robert!

For some reason I like that he's going with the knee-high socks tonight.
I like it when anyone goes with the high socks.
"The Pirates' lineup is ohmygod awful."

How dare you! You shall soon feel the wrath of Garrett Jones.

Don't worry Stephen, you only have to be the best pitcher

Ever.

No kidding.

Talk about lofty expectations on this kid (and lets not forget he’s still a youngun’)..

Don't get me wrong, I'm as involved in it as anyone and I'm happy we have this thread.

But Stephen, you have an open game thread on Lookout Landing.

And probably on almost every other SBN baseball blog as well.

This is what they mean when they say “hype”.

I just wanted to keep it out of the Felix Day thread
Very good idea.
Who would you take for the next five years?

Felix, Lincecum, Strasburg or Cliff Lee?

Brandon Morrow
I didn't say "take hostage".
Maybe he means "take the gaspipe after watching him pitch"?
Morrow was taken ahead of Lincecum in the draft,

Has more experience than Strasburg, throws harder than Lee, and is cheaper than Felix.
Makes perfect sense to me.

Can I have some of what you're smoking?
Not counting salary?
Salary is not a factor.
Lincecum
Even with his recent "struggles" and his funky delivery?
Tim Lincecum is god on a stick.
I wash myself with god on a stick.
I doubt you wash yourself with Tim Lincecum.
I know he's a muffin made of stud,

but there were some legitimate concerns about his delivery when he was drafted.

Who decides what's legitimate?
Thought about that right after I hit "post".

Replay: Many people voiced concerns about his delivery when he was drafted.

I dunno...

Go look at footage of Bob Gibson sometime. He looks like he’s trying to get airborne from the pitcher’s mound. So Lincecum’s not the first guy with a funky delivery.

At this point, I’m going to let results trump pretty much everything else.

I agree with you 100%.

But not everyone feels this way.

Yes and they have all been wrong so far.

Personally I think his delivery is fine.

His whiff and ground ball rates are the highest of his career
I think I'd agree with you here by the way.

I’m just curious as to why you would choose him.

Because he has the best pitch I've ever seen.

I like ‘stuff’ and velo and all that, but his change-up is a better pitch than other people’s anything-they-throw. That’s good.

Man, strasburg almost beat that out!

He's adjusting to his lost velocity amazingly.

He’s like a mix of Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux.

Amplifying the fact that it was out of your control unless you did make a thread about it.

You did what you had to do, it wasn’t a decision based on your opinion or anyone elses but the consensus of the population who will be watching every pitch of a debut since Dice-K maybe.

Strasburg's next 4 starts: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, ChiSox, Baltimore

I wish the M’s were so lucky… then again we’re probably in that group of suckitude

God damn you 2008 Mariners
We were two losses in '08 away from reasonably having a second half rotation of: Lee, Felix, Bedard, Strasburg, Fister
Bite me.

I didn’t need to hear that.

Uhh... You forgot about Ian Snell
No I did not
See, rotations in today's game usually only feature five pitchers.
I wasn't being serious
I prefer Vargas to Fister
Really it would be Lee, Felix, Bedard, Strasburg, (insert name here)
I just started crying.
Our lineup would look just fine!
I'm still on the Ackley wagon.
Is this Bob Costas?
Costas, Smoltz, and someone else. I missed the third name.
Yes first time I have heard him call a game since game 6 of the 2000 ALCS!
!
A slow roller but Martinez doesn’t run well, Jeter up with it…start spreading the News, New York, New York!
How are you watching the game?
MLB Network at home!
I got it anyway.

Somehow I thought you might have an MLB.tv subscription I could use.

Everytime I spend a Benjamin to watch sports online I use it like 4 times a year.

Fuck that shit, I got bitches to pay for.

No you don't
I'm a bitch.
I'll grant you that
And my drinking habits are expensive.

You have been owned.

By getting you to admit you're a bitch?

This is just proof that my constant crushing of you throughout the years has completely skewed your definition of victory.

I don't see either of us complaining right now.
God your bitches are all so expensive.
Aw, he's adorable. He looks so happy.
Ah geez Edith...
I'm worried about him now. I don't want him to blow it on such a large stage.

I am too mama bear. :(

Tom Hellion behind the plate, one the more pitcher-friendly umps around
Prediction: groundball single
Would take some of the pressure off.
I've never seen such a dramatic pre-game warmup in my life.
You must have never watched any Montreal Canadiens pre-game.

I mean, any.

This is exciting!
C'mon Dinger
Nats Park uses Sevan Nation Army too. Huh.
^Seven
Safeco is far from original in using that song.
I gotta say, I'm happy for the Nationals. They have less than we do.
Washington's play-by-play team is all kinds of generic and palatable.

I don’t think their color guy is an ex-player, though.

The first pitch sounded fast on the radio.
Love the crowd.

Those pitches aren’t even close.

Linedrive

Success!

That's a fuckton of movement for a 97MPH pitch.
Quite a low release point
That fastball has some sick tailing action.
And now the Nationals fans have the rest of the Nationals season to look forward to.
Is everyone watching on MLB.TV?

No special broadcast anywhere else right?

I want to but MLB.tv is bogged down
Working beautifully for me
Me too. This is awesome.

Watching on my phone, and it’s crystal clear.

That first pitch was totally a strike
Holy fuck look at all that break
99 holy jesus
How far do you think they jacked the radar guns up there?
I'd rather see hits than walks
Throws a lot of balls.

For context this is actually making fun of people who make snap judgments such as this. Stop please.

Strasburg debuts on national TV

Felix debut was only available to people who had MLB.tv and wanted to watch a really shit shaky camera.

This is on national TV....? What channel?
MLB Network
Oh I didn't know that counted. I don't have that, just watching on MLB.tv
I was watching on MLB.TV,

but I wasn’t getting any sound, so I decided to reach over and grab the remote and find the channel.

MLB i think, but I'm at work.
MLB Network
heck, it's even on the

armed forces network in the United Arab Emirates.

Holy shit.
The adthe stream is ESPN America

So I’d assume it’s on in most other countries (but not ESPN here!)

Wow, I wonder what kind of viewership this is getting.
My God.

This guy is insane.

Jeez Strasburg it's still the first inning.
Milledge hitting third in a major league lineup
That's just not fair.
GOODNESS GRACIOUS!
That was sick. Fucking sick.
HOLY CURVEBALL!
I think this kid's got some talent
If any body has a stream...
Check atdhe.net

That’s where I have it.

Fastball command is a little off

But his breaking ball looked ridiculous to me even if they aren’t all called strikes

He might be a little pumped up today.
My guess as well
Even though he was almost ours

I am really happy for the Nationals. They need this.

Fuck the Nationals.
The Nationals won't deserve anything until they move back to Montreal
I can't believe we agree on something.

The Nationals have been around for fewer than six seasons. They don’t need anything.

There were Baseball fans in DC before the Nats though.

Not that I care about the people in DC, but it’s not like there have only been MLB fans of a DC team for 6 years

They have the Orioles
There's baseball fans in Butte too, so?

Unless those particular fans happened to be Expo fans, this franchise doesn’t deserve anything.

I think Butte should get the Marlins.
I guess I'm thinking about old Senators fans and stuff. They had an MLB team that got taken from them too.

Not that it’s fair to Montreal, and yeah it’s the same org, but still.

To those of us who can't see this,

y’all could be describing any number of events.

These comments are pissing me off.

I didn’t DVR!!!

You aren't really complaining about comments regarding a game inside a gamethread that you could easily just not read, right?
Oh my god.

I’m just upset that I’m missing the game and it sounds like he’s doing so good.

Is this thing on national TV?
MLB Network.
MLB Network
MLB.tv is working outstandingly
Time to not watch for an inning.
Karstens needs to toss a no-hitter

just for fun

Meanwhile, Jeff Karstens
I think Brad Lincoln is making his major league debut for the Pirates tomorrow.

Would have been much cooler if today.

I'm excited to see his first AB.
I'm pretty sure you can watch it without mlb.tv if you go to mlb.com. They say they're showing his first 12 outs free.
I hope this game is won by a Nyjer Morgan walkoff
Hypothetical question if you're the Nats manager.

Strasburg has a no hitter through 8 but he’s at 102 pitches. Do you care what the pitch count is?

Personally, no.
Bring in Miguel Batista to close it
Hey, Stras, I'm here to ruin your first win! Surprise!

Awwww look at that smile.
102? No

I’d cap it at 115

I always forget what an awesome player Zimmerman is
Yeah thats what happens when you play for the Nationals.
Mike Schmidt incarnate.
Strasburg is going to get his first MLB win now.
Get back to me when he starts putting up Carlos Silva numbers
Aye aye, Captain.
Let's be realistic and not start comparing him future HOFers.
I wonder if there is someplace that I can bet wither on not he will make the hall of fame.
Kirk I bet you 5 billion dollars that Strasburg doesn't make the Hall of Fame.
I can't take that bet.

Too young.

If you had 5 bil you wouldn't be betting it.
No trust me, he would.

We make these bets all the time. Robert and I are billionaires.

Carry on then, I guess I have much to learn.
One of these days we will collect on these bets and one of us will be a trillionaire.

At which point I would start wars with things such as the phases of the moon and lithium.

That lithium war is going to be brutal.
What do you think caused the Marauder?
How does this one turn out, Matthew?
I'm taking gibbous
He'll need to hit a lot of buffets and training tables to do that.
Jeff Karstens makes me think of Matt DeSalvo.

I wonder what ever happened to him after he shut us down twice.

This game would be so much better if Ian Snell was the one pitching for the Pirates
You mean longer?
Other than the part where watching Snell pitch is agonizing.
But in this scenario he would be on the Pirates and not the Mariners.
You're really watching the other offense?
I stopped watching after the whiffer to end the first.
Oh you just missed another.
Oh how ever will I recouver
He has 4!
Chris Jakubauskas.
Hahaha why am I not surprised there is a thread for this?
Because it's the biggest news since Jim Joyce?
I'm so not doing my book project now.
Ump psyching out Strasburg?
I want to see hits or strikeouts
Ump isn't giving him the corner.
99 with tail. Jesus.
The last 3 pitches of that at bat were religious
I don't even have a witty remark for this
Okay, just throw 99 any oldd time.
FUCKED HIM UP
Oh my god.
Good christ

99 with insane cut.

Holy shit balls.
Pudge Rodriguez is catching him? How fitting.
He waited to come back from off the DL just to catch him.
I HAVE BEEN NAKED FOR THE PAST HOUR
In other news: Jamie Burke was DFA'd today
100 MPH, sweet moses
Holy fuck.
Holy shit.

How the hell does he do that?

Holy Shit

look at the break on that

5 comments in a row, seconds apart, starting with the word "Holy"
How would you like that inside pitch wizzing by your nut?
Or nuts if you have 2.
Sweet baby jesus

Pitches aren’t supposed to go that way

How many swinging strikes is that so far?
5
6
20% isn't too shabby I guess
Remember: Pirates
5th worst contact rate in the Majors
WOWWOWOWOWOWOWOW
Holy Poop!

What a curve!!!

He should retire right now.
It's only downhill from here.

Look at Griffey.

Called it.
This isn't fair.
Oh my christ that ball drops
Jesus Christ those breaking pitches are unbelievable
WHAT IN THE MOTHERFUCK?
Did you guys hear...

we swept the A’s?

Goodness gracious.

Rob Johnson would have six passed balls by now if he were catching.
There's a hit.
I CAN'T GET A STREAM AND IT'S UPSETTING ME

That atdhe link won’t work for me fuuuuuuuuuuck

That sucks. It's working beautifully for me.
I'm sure thats what he wants to hear.
Yeah, try it again.

I got a bunch of porn pop ups I had to close.

It's still says the channel is offline. And of course mlb.tv isn't even loading.

God damnit

FUCK FUCK FUCK IT STILL WON'T WORK NO MATTER WHAT
It says the channel is offline

:(

What a shame the pirated broadcast stream isn't working perfectly
The legal mlb stream isn't working any better
surprisedface.gif
Its a jpeg not a gif you flying moron.
You know if I could hit you with my hands I would.
That's not working at all

And why I don’t feel bad using adthe

Way to go, loser.
Fuck you, LaRoche.
At least we have Dustin Ackley

Right??!?!?! Right!!!?!?!

Is he hitting yet?
Check out his numbers since May 1st.
AKA Chase Utley II
I would be ecstatic for Chase Utley II

.246/.401/.351 in AA wasn’t what I had in mind.

You may be able to discount his first month to pro-ball jitters though.

He has been good since then.

He's in his second fucking month people, give it a bit.
But look at how good Strasburg already is!

I know, I know, I jest. We just had lofty expectations, especially since he’s already on the 40 man.

.400 OBP! I'll take that.
Rob Johnson wouldn't be catching any of these pitches, so it wouldn't even matter.
Any other draft I'd have been thrilled

Ironic that Riggleman coached out team out of the Strasbourg sweepstakes only to go on and manage the Nats. Conspiracy?

I still maintain that Dustin Ackley has a decent chance to be more valuable than Stephen Strasburg over the course of their respective careers.
Do you really think that?

I just don’t see that being possible if Strasburg stays healthy.

Yeah, but he's a pitcher

so you have to watch the ifs.

Because he's a hitter?
For a few reasons, but that's certainly one of the big ones.
I agree with you.
Bob Costas is an American treasure

Where can we bury him

With Hoffa, under the Meadowlands.
There's my man Cedeno.
Hey it's :(edeno.
Damn he is making people look foolish
He just poops on the hitters. It's not okay.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
Good gravy
Cosmic appropriateness achieved: he strikes out the side.
God dammit I need new pants
BET YOU ALL WISH YOU WERE NATIONALS FANS NOW HUH?
Or at least wish you could've lost one more flippin' game.
One more game wouldn't have mattered
Why is that?

I was curious about that earlier today.

Because we finished 1.5 games back
1.5 > 1

Just to finish off the mystery for the crowd.

Did we not play a game that year?
Or did they miss one?
They had a rain out in late September

that didn’t affect any playoff scenarios so was not going to be made up. It was a huge victory for us at the time because it gave us a 1.5 lead with just three games to play.

You mean 1.5 up on the Nats?
We were actually only 1.5 games back of the World Series
I can't believe more people don't remember that.
Fine, fine I can stop nitpicking.
No
It's hyperbole, my stern and grim-visaged friend.

Let me enjoy this one day in the sun.

I wish I was a Mariners fan with two more losses in 2008
Hahahahaha no
Says the man with the joint Dbacks/M's logo
The difference is that I know that nobody wants to be a DBacks fan.
4 Strikeouts already and i said he would have 7
Starting MLB shortstop Ronny Cedeno everyone.
This... is .... I just...
To think we were one series loss from getting this guy.

Jeez.

If we had him he'd find a way to suck
His arm would have fallen off by now
Incorrect

See Lee, Clifton

Cliff is worse

I’d almost rather see no awesomeness then have it for 3 months only to have it yanked away from us forever

This is a metaphor for Seattle fandom
Wait are you serious?

I must have missed this.

Oh, Divish
From a Japanese reporter as we watched Strasburg pitch: “I don’t think Rob Johnson could catch those pitches.”
Hahahaha fuck yes
Smart motherfuckers those Japanese.
He loses the -san suffix for his lack of manliness
Mike Stanton is batting
Infield Single

Now back to strasburg

Scores on a double!
Pudge trying to leg out a triple would've been amazing.
According to Pitman on the radio MLB authenticated everything.

The uniform, hat, bases, and all the game balls, and they volunteered to authenticate anything else Strasburg desired. Then Pitman either called him a HOF’er or quoted someone who did, missed a couple words at that point. Yeesh.

We made the right choice, pitchers flame out all the time

We made the right choice, pitchers flame out all the time.
We made the right choice, pitchers flame out all the time.
We made the right choice, pitchers flame out all the time.
We made the right choice, pitchers flame out all the time.
We made the right choice, pitchers flame ou-FUCK IT I CAN’T GODDAMN BELIEVE THE MARINERS COULD HAVE HAD THIS KID. WE AREN’T EVEN THE BEST AT SUCKING FUCK FUCK FUCK

Yep, gotta get it out.

Try not to kill too many puppies/kittens.

Adam Jones, Tim Lincecum, etc etc.

Learn to let go.

I do not miss Adam Jones
Man, it makes you wonder whether Baltimore just ruined him or something.
We weren't even playing him
I do.

Don’t get me wrong I like Guti better, but we could have had an Adam, Guti, Ichiro outfield. Sex+Sex+HomoSex.

It's not terribly likely we still get Gutierrez if Adam Jones were still here.
There's no way for you to know this

We probably wouldn’t have traded for Guti

Keeping him would have raised the chances of still having him + Guti by....a lot.
How?

The circumstances that led to trading for Guti were unique and by keeping Jones it completely changes those circumstances.

Current chance of having Jones + Guti right now: 0%

Chance of having Jones + Guti if Jones trade never happens: >0%

That was partly a joke.

Since we know longer have Adam, there is likely zero chance it can happen. Keeping him raises the chances. But also Franklin was prospect that Z had his eye on for a long time so who knows.

I'm with you on this one.

Although the chances were almost none if we kept them, it made it impossible once he was traded.

Bingo!

In conclusion, Love you Guti!

If we kept Adam Jones he would have had a degenerative hip condition.
Ah yes, the flaw in my reasoning.
It's amazing how good this team could be with the benefit of a sports almanac ten years from now.
I didn't invent the time machine to win at gambling

I invented the time machine to travel through time!

The Bavasi effect is very powerful
What the jabber?

We didn’t pass on Strasburg.

I know.

Replace “pass” with “missed out”.

Pudge just took that time on the DL to get better drugs. Good for him.
I totally forgot about Strasburg batting.

I hope he hits a bomb.

He's actually been getting hits in the minors too.
Felix is only two years older that Strasburg.

Feels like he has been around forever.

Felix is sui generis.
Happens when you make the majors at 18.
*19.

I’m on a roll tonight.

I wonder if Strasburg will end up being banned from baseball on the grounds that he's too good
He's thrown precisely one major league inning.
I count two
And another.

About to start his third.

Over/Under 10 Strikeouts?
How about 25?
I wouldn't take the over on that
Under, pitch count.
Bodog has the over/under at 5.5

Incidentally, the over/under on strikeouts by Felix? 6. This is conclusive evidence that Felix > Strasburg

Yeah probably 8 or 9 since 90 pitch count.
If he goes 90 pitches he's on pace for 6 innings, 12 k's.

And now I’ll prepare for people to call me an idiot for using “pace” to describe a pitchers for two innings and how he’ll do for the next 4 innings.

I would like to ammend my vote.
Also, the MLB.tv "free preview" of this sucks.

I keep having to refresh the page to get it to start again once it cuts away, because GOD KNOWS YOU HAVE TO PAY TO WATCH THE PIRATES PITCHING

To the people that are still complaining about us missing out on Strasburg by half a game.

The Pirates finished with a worse record than us by three games in 1986 but that was still back when the AL and NL alternated the 1st overall pick in the draft regardless of record.

With the 2nd pick the Pirates drafted Mark Merchant , a player who never had a single at bat in the major league. With the first overall pick we drafted Ken Griffey Jr.

Shit happens. Deal with it.

I don't see how that makes up for anything,

Griffey was horrible with the Mariners.

Are you talking about Craig?
I shall henceforth call XL: Merchant's Revenge.
That was one of the dumbest ideas.

“Oh, you lost 115 games, but sorry, you pick second overall to a team that was 25 wins better because you were in the wrong league.

Could you have imagine Griffey on the early 90s Pirates, though?

Bonds AND Junior in the same outfield? They would have absolutely dominated.

Sweet fucking tits, that curve amazes me every time
He's going to throw 300 Ks this year.
I don't think he throws enough innings this year for that.
I know.

But my god.

Can't wait to get home and see the highlights.
It's a shame you can't watch because it's truly incredible.
It is,

but Strasburg doesn’t pay my mortgage.

He could.
With the change sitting in his locker probably.
I will take this bet.
It's not a bet retard.
Is that Frank Dreben behind the plate?
It's Enrico Palazzo!
I am going to root for this man forever*

*Statement voided if he is ever a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

That was the most amazing strike three call I've ever seen.
I love this crowd in Washington.
Karstens threw the white flag.

He doesn’t look like he’s bothering.

I want to have sex with that curve.
Cheat on it with the fastball?
6 in a row!
Oh god I'm making a mess all over the room
Better make sure you're staying hydrated.
Holy fuck Zimmerman
That was a pretty play
WHAT? A NON-K?
What a choker.
This was my reaction.

No future for this kid.

Zimmerman is a boss
Sweet play by Zimmerman.
Man, does the atmosphere to this game have a vintage Pedro feel to it.
That's the same feeling I get.
Nice job Zimmerman

Don’t let ém forget you’re the boss

This is mental.
Only 90% of it
Does he have a pitch that is not absolutely filthy?
I'm sure he knows how to throw a bad knuckleball.
I hear he strikes out batters swinging while intentionally walking them
Who pitches for the Nats tomorrow?

Because he’s going to go down as the biggest letdown ever.

I don't know but the Pirates best pitching prospect debuts tomorrow.

THAT is the biggest letdown ever.

Hey, no pressure.
He's working so fast.

I thought I’d be able to catch some of his start by the time I got home at 5:30, now I’m not so sure.

Tony Gwynn is a proud papa

and I’m not talking about jr.

I cannot actually believe this player is a rookie on a team that I have rooted for since it began.
The Expos started in 1977 (I think).
1969

With the Royals, Padres and Pilots.

I knew it was around there sometime.

And corresponded to another Seattle team.

The other Canadian team came in 77
A whole 5.3 years?

I cannot imagine what that must be like!!

He's gonna go yard in his first AB.
Oh god, Strasburg AB time
I don't like Strasburg anymore
Strasburg Dinger time!
I am inordinately excited
Pitchers batting, what a country!
Strasburg, eh?
My god, Tony Gywnn looks like a troll doll now.
He coulda had a hit on that.
No wheels!

Damnit Cedeno.

What a lollygagger.
Man, Strasburg is slow
Probably under orders not to run hard and injure himself.
Fuck it. Chicks dig scars.
He should be benched for jogging like that.
He probably would have been benched for running all-out

Can’t tweak that knee again

I am going to be sad when the most commented-on thread of the season isn't even about the M's

And it’s not even an off topic thread either.

Will this beat the Morgan thread? Likely…

Opening day had nearly 3000 comments.
HE DIDN'T RUN THAT OUT BENCH HIS ASS
I am a little disappointed in him.

My first AB in the majors? I’m hauling ass.

I bet they talked to him and told him not to.
Didn't know he had a knee thing.
And I completely forgot about the knee thing.

Yeah that.

Hauling your ass back to the bench.
Ya definitely he could have just added to the legend by getting a hit in his first AB
Dusty Baker is not their manager
Karstens should throw at Strasburg's head
No, no, don't do that, don't do that. If you hit him, you'll just make him mad
Karstens FB = Strasburg Change

So eh. Besides I think Karstens owes him a beer for not running it out.

Not only does your team get shut out, you also give up a hit to him?

Mike Stanton's also debuting tonight?

I don’t know if I can handle such rookie awesomeness in one day.

In one week

Stanton, Strasburg, Posey called up. There’s 3 of your top 10.

Goddammit, I have to run to the store to get soda. GODDAMMIT.
Soda dehyradrates you. You need to replenish your salt and electrolytes.
Nyjer is attempting to stall for you.
Really? You need a soda that bad?

Have a glass of water for shits sake.

Diet Sunkist or death.
You're a Nats fan that is going to miss the first start of Strasburg for soda.
I'm the most eccentric person you'll ever meet, if you were to somehow ever meet me.
Just dump a bunch of sugar in water.
I don't see what this has to do with eccentricity.
Bahahahahaha.

You need to rethink your life.

Dude, just drink water

I’m not running to the store even though I have no food and am really hungry- somehow I’ll survive

Strasburg is literally the most important person in Nationals history and you are going to miss parts of his first ever major league start to get soda?

When Felix came up, I purposely started a fight between my friend and his GF in order to cut our camping trip short just so I could get home to listen to it on the radio.

Hey look we're thinking the same again.
Boy I hope not or else our friendship just got really awkward.
I can go and come back during a half inning if I run. I'll just wait until the Nats are up again.
This is what fandom is about.

You will get there no matter the casualties.

Your devotion is inspiring.
He scared the neighbors and covered the kitchen in soda when he resigned.

Neither of these things come close to his craziest fan moments.

So the kitchen was all sticky and you believed it when he said it was soda?
Considering I poured it on his face too, he better hope it was.
LL has got to be the gayest site on SBN.
Only until Ichiro gets his own SBN blog
That would be some great shit to read.
Thank god for google translate amirite?
Think if Yogi Berra and Ichiro coauthored a blog.

Damn.

Not quite

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/

Yeah, pretty gay right there.
Will this mentally scar me in any way?
Absolutely.
Oh shit, I should have listened.
Unless he has brown semen I think I do believe him, yes.
Think of what has likely happened to his kidneys over the years
What do your kidneys have to do with semen?
Yes but things connected to your urinary tract do
Why would semen go up my urinary track to chill in my kidneys until it got brown just to exit my body?
I'm assuming your urinary tract is all gunked up
I've stopped drinking soda so I'm fine now.
Semen doesn't go through the kidneys.
Way too much semen talk in this thread if you ask me.
Not enough
I suppose it's all a matter of perspective.
Pittsburgh's defense is almost depressing.
McCutchen!

So you think we could probably nab him from the Pirates in July?

FUCK FUCK FUCK I have to go.

Thank God for DVR

Unbelievable

6 of 9 outs are strike outs.

If Nyjer gets picked off I will slash his car's tires.
I won't

I only care about Strasburg

He's made a shitton of dumb baserunning decisions this season.
Read fangraphs today?
Not yet.
Depressing for Morgan fans.
I'm surprised that major leaguers have trouble with 69mph curves
Jamie Moyer is not pitching.
Karstens threw a 69mph curve that last AB

I guess in my head I imagine that that pitch looks slow and fat to major league hitters.

Other pitchers throw slow curves.

Jared Weaver is one of them.

Just off the top of my head anyway.
Yeah I know, Jamie is one of my favorites and was the first person that came to mind.
In isolation it's fine

If you throw them 50 69 MPH curveballs in a row they’d hit 40 of them

It’s when you’re expecting something a lot faster that it poses a problem

Well yeah I get why this is

but it’s just one of those things that it seems like shouldn’t happen.

Strasburg's average FB velocity a hair under 98MPH so far.
I hope by the end of the season he's a "qualifying" pitcher for the stats.

Is that possible still?

Yes he just needs to throw 162.1 innings I think.
That's not gonna happen.

Damn.

I could be wrong though.

I’m not sure what the exact number is.

Yeah 1 inning per team game.
I paced him at just over 101 innings if he was on the "Mark Prior" path.

He’ll fall well short.

27 starts if 6 innings per.

Probably not.

I just noticed the commercial

where MLB players pitch dumb ideas to each other like “A pizza party for all of pittsburgh”….Jeff Clement is the one play 1B for Pit. Jeffy is famous.

If I were a Nats fan

Can someone do me a solid

and tell me from which episode this comes? Danke.

Over Logging

12×6

Strasburg sucks
Trade him for Oswalt?
Steve Phillips makes me hate humans
Steve Phillips had a job running a baseball team.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

Trade him for Lee?
I half expect Strasburg to turn an unassisted triple play at this point
Load the bases then strike out the side.
It might happen
I'LL TAKE THAT
He'll manage to strike out both the runners.
Manager: "Bet you can't let the first two on and then strike out the next three"
Was Randy Johnson consistently this fast in his day?

I just think 100 mph when I think of him.

Johnson and Lincecum are the two I think of

Though I don’t think Randy was quite this fast.

What about Verlander?

Isn’t he regularly up around 100?

I seem to remember Verlander averaging 99 with a ridiculous curve when he first came up
Seems about right to me.

I’m not sure where you can look this up though.

Fangraphs disagrees with me
What do they say?
Fastball averaged under 96 his first 2 years, also negative run value on his curve
Huh.

Sure not how I remember it.

True.

Maybe it’s just me but I feel like Verlander’s backed off a bit from his velocity, but he certainly can throw 100 when he wants to.

Or he's done the exact opposite.

Stupid facts getting in the way.

I thought he sat around 96-97 in his prime.

And could crank it up higher when he needed or wanted to.

91 MPH circle change

Ridiculous

That was a nice turn
Sawed him off!
I'm officially ready to place Rob Dibble ahead of Hawk Harrelson

He is the absolute worst.

I think I will become a Mike Stanton fan on the account of him not being Steven Strasburg
Well the dream is over
TRADE HIM FOR LEE

THE BUM

Shitsickles.
I'm glad this happened.

The kid is obviously good, but he’s not superhuman.

I'm sad about it.

I love a good story though.

He's still a good story.
This isn't a good story

Trust me on this.

Throwing that HR back was a mistake.
$10,000 on eBay gone just like that!
Yes it was.
Seriously, what a fucking moron.
Aw I'm late

But yeah that guy’s a retard

Should've traded for Roy Oswalt!
OH GOD NO
NO NO SEND HIM BACK TO CALIFORNIA
IT WAS A TRAP
He is a bust. Career over.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

DFA

Who is this bum?
DFA HIS ASS
Trade him for Silva!
Boy am I glad we didn't get this guy.
One more lifetime 0.00 ERA gone.
Ok that was the excuse I need to turn it to the Mariners.
There's a Mariners game on?
Felix > Strasburg
who?

i’m confused

Insignificant team in Seattle. No one actually cares.
Maybe now we can trade Lee for him and Harper.

Next year of course. ; )

Yes, Harper needs to first strike out in an MLB AB

Until then, it’s impossible to prove he’s the giant bust he will be.

You have to wait one year from when you are drafted in order to be traded.
Is this the rule?

If so, STRASBURG!

Not a year yet
I think it has been.
Could be traded as a PTBNL!
We need to start the LL mojo working on this.
The only time LL has ever gotten what it wants is the Felix Slam and he got injured 30 minutes later.
Simms Hat Day, Felix Extension?
And I quote: "Next year of course"
Shut up Coach
Who is the dumb piece of shit that threw that ball back
Someone with some big regrets
He just threw away a lot of money
Yes he did. Thats one of those times where he probably regretted it the second he did it.
I would never throw back a home run ball.

I don’t care what the situation is.

I'm sure

he had a strong urge to dive onto the field after that ball. It would still be worth it, even if he got the ball and got thrown out of the stadium in the process.

They'd probably take the ball away from him
lucky security guard

thats a dirty way to make some cash

The Pirates' defense blows.
Strasburg can't be better than Felix
If Ichiro did that I would be 100% certain it was on purpose
It probably was on purpose.
Hey, when did Brumley start coaching for the Nats?
Nationals Baseball!
More like "NL Baseball!"
Run him the fuck over!
Or at least slide. Or something other than touch the catcher.
I hope the innings work out so I can watch Strasburg and Felix pitch seamlessly
Which at least for now looks like it might be the case
I'll switch to the M's after this inning.

I’ve seen what I wanted to see, and it was magnificent.

There we go

He gone

That groundout was disappointing
HE'S COMPARING HIM TO FELIX
Using W-L records
Yep, as soon as he touched on that, I tuned out.
I think the main point

Was the innings per year and development curve.

101!!
Please someone .gif that
He just hit 101.

Wow.

A starting pitcher just threw 101.
Be still my beating heart.
101!

Alright, I’m done here.

When was the last time somebody saw a 101 MPH pitch, by a starter, in the fifth?
Verlander his 102 in '07

Don’t recall the inning

Yep
He struck out Counsell and Tony Graffanino swinging at offspeed pitches, then fired his first pitch to Hardy at 101 mph on the stadium radar gun — 102 on the telecast. It was his 109th pitch of the game.

No hitter.

Didn't Verlander do it in the 8th or 9th during his no-hitter?
99 by pitch F/X
Stephen Strasburg is very good at pitching
They should let him go for 20 Ks
Bring him backout for the 7th.

I don’t get giving him a 90-pitch pitch count anyway…hasn’t he been throwing more in the minors?

Yeah, he's been fine

They’re being super cautious I guess.

I think they will. He's just to damn dynamic.
11Ks!
And no walks

What, one or two 3-ball counts?

God the Nats suck.

They are gonna fucking lose this game aren’t they?

I hope Stephen enjoys the next 5 years
Anything's possible
Nice timing!
Damn, I did that in the Mariners thread too.
Wooooooo Strasburg W?
AND THERE IT GOES
ADAM DUNN!!!!

Leave him out for the 7th!!!!

I love how NONE of Dunn's homers are EVER cheap.
Karstens is uninterested in strikeouts.
WILLINGHAM!!!

Get a big enough lead that they are ok with leaving him out there another inning.

Kind of familiar.
This is the best Nationals v. Pirates games ever played.
I am saddened that we couldn't manage to get Willingham

On the bright side, picked up Strasburg weeks ago when someone dropped him! Hehe.

No one cares about your fantasy baseball team
I know, and I'm sorry. Just had to let that out.
I bet his girlfriend does.
Oh my God I just realized I have Strasburg in the LL Fantasy League
Nobody cares about your fantasy teams
You do
I stopped caring once we had to drop Rene Rivera
This is like watching two little crippled children fight.

Except one has a really sweet gun, but has no fucking idea how to use it.

At first I read it "except one has really sweet gum"

I was like, is it really that hard to figure out how to use gum.

All is quiet in the pen! That's awesome news.
I don't have a fantasy team.
The TV just said 103
Pitch f/x?
Gameday says 98 on that pitch
103 sweet jesus
103? Really?

That can’t be right.

LET HIM GO GO GO GO GO TO THE NINTH
OH MY GOD!!!
GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING
HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO AWESOME
I've never seen so many hitters literally jumping out of the box.

They look like little leaguers.

Jesus, 13.

And has struck out 8 of the 9 hitters.

FOURTEEN
My feed was behind

I can’t believe what I just saw. What a fucking 7th inning.

I HAVE FINALLY MET MY JESUS
HIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE

7 iIN A ROW

EVERYBODY EVERYBODY HAS DIED!
That crowd is electric.
Wait, that's all 9
Oh my fucking god!
14 HE GOT 'EM ALL!

GOTTA STRIKE ’EM ALL STRASBURH!

HE'S ON MY TEAM HE'S ON MY TEAM MINE MINE MINE
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT
I THINK I'M GOING TO GET ROPED INTO BEING A GNATIONALS FAN
Seriously he could get 20Ks in his first MLB start if they let him
I don't even know what to say
Aw man, they're ending his night.
So I gather this was a good first game.
Can anyone give me a game score?
And he's done.

My God, I didn’t think this could possibly match the hype. JESUS was I wrong.

He'll pitch a perfect game and a no-hitter this year.
I'll bet he can even do it simultaneously!
Separately Mr. Not Corco.
He's a golfer too?

Oh my!

Wait so what is his line and sw strikes?
Hooray for Strasburg!
13 Ks was the Nats team record?
Heh, heard "struck him out!" and looked up all excited

Then remembered it wasn’t Strasburg

I wonder how many WAR that's good for

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