Five starts in, the hype hasnt let up yet.
Monday, the same day that Stephen Strasburg basically doubled the Turner Field attendance all by himself, Braves manager Bobby Cox called him “just about unhittable,” and “a Hall of Famer in the making.” Tim Hudson said hes “as advertised,” and “a talent this game hasnt seen in a long time.”
The Braves draw their largest Monday crowd in three years to watch Strasburg pitch. (Getty Images) A talent who has now gone three starts without a win.
Dont read that the wrong way. Strasburg lost to the Braves on Monday night in large part because his Nationals team wouldnt allow him to win. He held a first-place club scoreless for six innings. Had the Nats turned a routine double play, it likely would have been seven shutout innings, and Strasburg might have seen the eighth inning for the first time as a major leaguer.
They didnt, he didnt, the Braves and Hudson won 5-0, and now Strasburg is 2-2 as a major leaguer.
And heres the question: If this keeps up, will we keep watching? If he doesnt win, is he still must-see?
Hes still so good that you dont want to take your eyes off him. But his team is so bad right now that your eyes hurt at the sight of them.
For now, were still fascinated by him, which is why the Braves had by far their biggest Monday night turnout in three years (since an interleague visit from the Red Sox), and why more than half of the 42,889 bought their tickets in the five days since Strasburgs previous start.
“A playoff-type atmosphere,” said Hudson, who understood that his mound opponent, 13 years younger and with 154 fewer major-league wins, was responsible for it.
Hudson is a nice story himself, off to an 8-3 start in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. His seven shutout innings Monday lowered his ERA to 2.37, sixth in the National League.
And yet, Hudson had no problem dealing with postgame questions that were almost all about Strasburg.
“Im a player and a fan,” he said. “Its fun to see a guy come up and have this kind of impact.”
The Braves, of course, have their own well-hyped rookie, in right fielder Jason Heyward. But if the Heyward hype nearly matched the Strasburg hype this spring, theres no question that by now the Strasburg hype has lapped it.
The Braves said that nearly 10,000 fans bought their Strasburg tickets Monday, which means they decided to attend after the Braves said that Heyward almost certainly wouldnt play (and the Braves put Heyward on the disabled list after Mondays game, with a bruised left thumb).
They saw Strasburg on a night when he lacked his usual total command of the fastball (he actually had two four-pitch walks), and on a night when his curveball (which some scouts consider his best pitch) was so inconsistent that he hardly used it as the game went on.
Braves first baseman Troy Glaus said that Strasburgs changeup is his best pitch, and on this night it probably was.
Strasburg himself talked of pitching when his “stuff isnt really there,” and also suggested that he was battling himself the entire game.
Remember, he shut out a first-place team for six innings, and with a little help from his defense would have carried the shutout through seven.
His standards are high, but what were also learning is that Strasburg doesnt judge himself on strikeouts or scoreless innings. Hes not a stat guy, it seems, and you dont hear him mentioning quality starts.
“The stats dont matter,” he said Monday. “At the end of the day, what matters is if you then he not only has more talent than most every other major-league pitcher, but he also has a greater understanding of the game than most of them.
So maybe Cox was right when he was talking about Strasburg on Monday afternoon.
“I always thought the more youre out there, the better you get,” the Braves manager said. “He can only get worse. Hes got nowhere to go. Hes already at utopia.
“Its not supposed to work that way. In this case, it has.”
Its why we still watch him, any time we can, and why well likely continue to watch him, even if part of the deal is it means weve got to watch the Nationals, as well.
Its why some people want to put Strasburg on the All-Star team.
“I want to see him pitch in the All-Star Game,” Cox said. “But five starts? Its probably not fair to the other guys. It seems to me, hes going to be on that All-Star team the next 10-12 years.”
No, its probably not fair, not to guys like Hudson who have pitched all season and deserve it. But if the All-Star Game is about the players we want to see, how can Strasburg not be on it?
Who do we want to see more than him?
“Hes probably going to make the All-Star team every year from here on out,” Hudson said.
He probably is. And were probably going to keep watching him, every chance we get.
Even if it means watching the Nationals, too.
