Strasburg leaves us speechless

The NBA Finals were on last night, but who cares? Most of America was focused on a much more challenging and much less image-dominated sport, which last night showed why it has been called, for so many years, America's pastime.

The game has been hurting lately. The NFL's continual rise to success has shunned most other sports, and thanks to ESPN's overdose of NBA coverage, baseball's now having a hard time holding out as America's second biggest sport. A discovery that over 100 of the games players, including some of its best, were juiced up on steroids doesn't help either.

So how does the MLB respond to this? In the same way that the NHL responded to the lockout: by the emergence of a young superstar who plays for the nation's capital. In the NHL, that man is Alex Ovechkin, a 2-time MVP who plays for the Washington Capitals.

In the MLB, they've been hoping that that man will be Stephen Strasburg, a pitcher out of San Diego State who last night was called up to make his Major League debut as a Washington National.

To say that Strasburg shined is, well, the understatement of the century. The young star was phenomenal. Seven innings, four hits, two earned runs, no walks, and, oh yeah, fourteen strikeouts.

Fourteen.

How crazy is that? Actually, it shouldn't be that surprising. After dominating the minor leagues after dominating college after dominating the Olympics, I guess it's only natural that the guy would dominate the major leagues. Curt Schilling said that Strasburg could be the best pitcher on baseball on the day he arrives. I'm not sure that you can say that he was last night, but he sure was right up there.

What more is there to say? The performance speaks for itself, and leaves us speechless.