(ed. note - "Heh, Valentino Pascucci is a Bison. Expos fans?")
So this is how His minor league career ends, (hopefully) not with a bang but a meh. Not that Stephen Strasburg wasn't impressive in holding the NY Mets' Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, scoreless over 5.0 IP in which he allowed just 3 hits and a walk while recording 5 K's. Strasburg threw 89 pitches, 1 wild, 54 for strikes, got 6 groundouts, 4 flyouts and the win to improve to (4-1) in 6 starts and 33.1 Triple-A innings pitched over which the 21-year-old right-hander has given up just 18 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned, 1 HR and 7 walks while striking out 38 batters and holding opponents to a .154 BAA since joining the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs back on May 7th. He's ready for the next test. He's on schedule for a June 8, 2010 MLB Debut, one day short of a year after the Washington Nationals made the former SDSU starter the no.1 pick in the 2009 Draft.
(7-2) with a 1.30 ERA, .158 BAA, 10.26 K/9, 1.89 BB/9, 1 HR allowed in 55.1 IP (and it was an opposite field blast on a two-strike fastball), Strasburg heads to DC with 11 minor league starts under his belt. It's time...
In an appearance on ESPN 980's "The Sports Fix" with Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro this morning, Nats' team President Stan Kasten talked about Strasburg's impending debut. Asked during the interview if the excitement over Stephen Strasburg's MLB debut has reached "World Series-level", Mr. Kasten responded that the hype was, "...well into postseason levels...LCS level, is it World Series level yet? It's something bordering on that, and the attention on one player is something I've never been through before." How will Strasburg react to the attention? How many people will be in Nationals Park on Tuesday? Is there any way you're possibly going to miss His debut?