Strasburg

[Sam Mills 51]

Brien Taylor missed the start b/c he has to be up at 4 am to lay bricks.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-taylor060506

Passan struck the setting well. Then again, I was aware of Beaufort (it's BO-furt in North Carolina) because it was across the river from my grandparents' cottage.

Heard plenty about Brien Taylor and read plenty. Wonder how often Taylor thinks about that ill-fated night ...

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Back on topic ... as soon as I saw the line on the crawl, I knew the souvenir store was going to profit - from Moddy alone.

I mean, he'll need a bunch of Strasburg jerseys to mix and match with all those caps.

 

[BYH]

Just for the record let me say that Bryce Harper is already giving off serious Todd Marinovich type vibes

Yes. Ab-so-lute-ly. Can't remember where it was, but someone did a pretty good article about what an entitled prick Harper has already become.

Pos had a good quote from Itzhak Perlman in his article about Landon Donovan in this week's SI about how, for every child prodigy you see, there are 100 who burned out and burned up you never met. I'm not sure SI did Harper any favors by putting him on the cover. Maybe he's too good to miss, or maybe he ends up smoking crack like Josh Hamilton. I wouldn't go penciling him into 10 all star games before we see how he handles fame, much less big league curve balls.

SI was too busy trying to create the next big thing to care what it did to Harper's ego. And, again, if Harper ends up flaming out b/c of his arrogance, I'm not expecting any self-examination from Verducci, just some tsk-tsking.

 

[imjustagirl]

Brien Taylor missed the start b/c he has to be up at 4 am to lay bricks.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-taylor060506

My younger brother & I drove up to Albany to watch him pitch in AA.

Got great seats right behind home plate.

That kid had a hell of an arm.

My buddy and I drove to see him in New Britain in the summer of '93. The traffic to the park snaked all the way to Route 9. I realize this is Swahili if you've been fortunate to never spend a lot of time in central Connecticut, but trust me when I tell you it was a MILES-LONG jam. Obviously, they were sold out and of course we didn't have tix, so we turned around and went home to play Strat-o-Matic.

YOU LEAVE HARD HITTIN' ALONE!

 

[Bubbler]

I still think hype for a starting pitcher in today's game is a little misplaced, since even if he becomes an all-timer you're going to get him for seven innings every fifth day - it's not like a position player and obviously not like a phenom in, say, basketball, who's out there every night of the year.

Disagree.

The city was buzzing all day. The stadium was electric. The players were hyped.

And then the kid went out and just killed it. Takes some balls to show up and do that with all the expectations coming in. Hopefully he's Clemens and not Prior.

Lest we not forget, he WAS facing the Pirates.

I don't care if it was the East Carolina Pirates, you strike out 14 in your debut and you're doing something special.

 

[cjericho]

Now that that's over -- and what a tremendous debut it was -- let's see how he reacts the first time he gets shelled. Prior couldn't handle the fact that people finally started to hit him.

One start does not a star make, but if he's half as good as he was tonight, he'll have a hell of a career.

i think it was more that prior couldn't handle not pitching the same after his arm was shot. dusty didn't help.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

 

[Shaggy]

I'm not sure anybody in baseball has better stuff and better command of that stuff than Strasburg. Already.

That was an incredible debut, I don't care who he was facing.

 

[cyclingwriter]

Older Dodgers fans will remember Karl Spooner...15Ks in his first start in 1954, 14 in the next. Out of the Majors by the end of 1955 with a shoulder injury.

This is not predicting a bad career for Strasburg, but he pitched against Pittsburgh last night.

 

[outofplace]

Buddy of mine who has been gushing about Strasburg since before the kid was drafted insists that he would have carved up any team in the majors last night. Given how hard he was throwing, how nasty that curveball is and how good his command was, I have a hard time arguing.

That said, it is so easy for pitchers to get screwed up. Check out Zack Greinke from last year to this year. Somehow he can't find his slider and he goes from the best pitcher in the American League to a 4.05 ERA. Point being, the kid is living up to the hype and there is every reason to believe he will continue to dominate. But pitching can be very fickle.

 

[blacktitleist]

This was appointment viewing for me last night. I just wanted to see the kid pitch.

Was watching the pregame on MLB network, and right at 7, it goes black. ****.

Fortunately, I have Direct TV baseball package, but unfortunately, Nats games are usually blacked out in my neck of the woods.

But I did get the Nats feed last night, complete with that moron Dibble, who was already slobbering over Mr. Strasburg.

I don't care if it was against the Pirates, Strasburg had a hell of a debut. Sorta reminded me of when Mark Prior debuted with the Cubs, but only better.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Moddy is just counting the days until the Yankees can sign him as a free agent. ;D

Just joking. Nice to see the kid live up to the hype.

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

At Strasburg's age, Doc Gooden had 58 W, including a season year with 24 W, 268 K, 1.53 ERA, and a 0.965 WHIP

Just sayin'

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

At Strasburg's age, Doc Gooden had 58 W, including a season year with 24 W, 268 K, 1.53 ERA, and a 0.965 WHIP

Just sayin'

Wow, at that rate, he must have finished his career as one of the best ever...

 

[Dick Whitman]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

At Strasburg's age, Doc Gooden had 58 W, including a season year with 24 W, 268 K, 1.53 ERA, and a 0.965 WHIP

Just sayin'

Wow, at that rate, he must have finished his career as one of the best ever...

I always thought that 200 wins might have given Doc at least a Hall of Fame shot from the Veterans Committee, especially with the late-career no-hitter and two rings. At that point, he's Don Drysdale. But 194 will never cut it. Plus, I think there's a notion that nobody wants to reward self-destruction. Although I think arm troubles would have done him in anyway. That workload in his late tenns and early 20s was absurd. As much as old-timers like to ***** and moan about today's pitchers being coddled, there's no excuse for 276 innings at age 20.

 

[cranberry]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

At Strasburg's age, Doc Gooden had 58 W, including a season year with 24 W, 268 K, 1.53 ERA, and a 0.965 WHIP

Just sayin'

Good point. But watching Strasburg throw last night, young Doc was the comparison that kept coming to mind.

 

[proudpittsburgher]

Dude was throwing 91 MPH change ups. There are plenty of major league pitchers who don't touch 91 on a fastball.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

At Strasburg's age, Doc Gooden had 58 W, including a season year with 24 W, 268 K, 1.53 ERA, and a 0.965 WHIP

Just sayin'

Wow, at that rate, he must have finished his career as one of the best ever...

I always thought that 200 wins might have given Doc at least a Hall of Fame shot from the Veterans Committee, especially with the late-career no-hitter and two rings. At that point, he's Don Drysdale. But 194 will never cut it. Plus, I think there's a notion that nobody wants to reward self-destruction. Although I think arm troubles would have done him in anyway. That workload in his late tenns and early 20s was absurd. As much as old-timers like to ***** and moan about today's pitchers being coddled, there's no excuse for 276 innings at age 20.

I don't think voters are real sympathetic to guys who snort their way out of the league.

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

Interesting Tweet

baseballcrank 7 rookie pitchers had 14-K/0-BB game since 1920: K.Wood (20), Gooden (16, twice), Prior (16), Clemens (15), Gary Nolan (15) & Strasburg (14)

 

[Dick Whitman]

Doc Gooden also had a pretty fast start before his career flamed out (much to his own doing, but still).


and that HARD HITTIN, NEVER QUITTIN. get it right.

At Strasburg's age, Doc Gooden had 58 W, including a season year with 24 W, 268 K, 1.53 ERA, and a 0.965 WHIP

Just sayin'

Wow, at that rate, he must have finished his career as one of the best ever...

I always thought that 200 wins might have given Doc at least a Hall of Fame shot from the Veterans Committee, especially with the late-career no-hitter and two rings. At that point, he's Don Drysdale. But 194 will never cut it. Plus, I think there's a notion that nobody wants to reward self-destruction. Although I think arm troubles would have done him in anyway. That workload in his late tenns and early 20s was absurd. As much as old-timers like to ***** and moan about today's pitchers being coddled, there's no excuse for 276 innings at age 20.

I don't think voters are real sympathetic to guys who snort their way out of the league.

I agree.

Hypothetically, though: Same career. No drugs. Arm problems. Does he get in?

Hypothetical II: Same career plus six more wins. No drugs. Arm problems. Does 200 wins make the difference?

Looking at his career, Gooden had 276 strikeouts in 218 innings at age 19. He never came close to that ratio again. So either the innings were already taking their toll early on, or someone was trying to get him to use less pitches and throw deeper into games. Considering he threw 276 innings in 1985 with 16 complete games, though, I doubt the Mets were vigilant about protecting him.