Baseball Jesus Does Baseball Tonight

 

(Photo of TV/ESPN by Nationals Enquirer Staff. Stephen Strasburg graced the set of ESPN's Baseball tonight on Thursday night.)

"Definitely just waiting for the call."
(Stephen Strasburg, via ESPN/Baseball Tonight, 4/22/2010)

After riding the bus for five hours from Harrisburg to New Britain, CT for a four-game Senators-Rock Cats series, Stephen Strasburg made the quick ~20 minute drive from New Britain to Bristol for an in-studio appearance on ESPN's Baseball Tonight on ESPN2 Thursday night.

Nothing earth-shattering during the proceedings: In general, Strasburg seemed super composed on camera, handling the softballs lobbed at him by ESPN's Karl Ravech & Buster Olney with a cool, calm, and collected ease. In another segment, he showed off the grip(s) he uses for various pitches to Eduardo Perez & ex-Nat Aaron Boone. (We'd link to video here if we could find it.) A couple of mildly interesting points:

• Strasburg mentioned John Lannan and Garrett Mock specifically as teammates who helped him adjust during Spring Training. Memo to the Nationals: Keep Mock away from Baseball Jesus, please!

• Strasburg said he has not been asked by the team to correct the so-called "inverted W problem" with his delivery. He claimed he has no idea what it was, and seemed surprised when the BBTN crew showed him a picture. 

• Strasburg says he hasn't been involved in any discussions about when he'll be called up to the big club (see quote above, he's just waiting by the phone).

• Strasburg said he trusts the Nats. He said: "I trust what the Nationals are doing with me."

  Now, It's been well documented that Mike Rizzo has a plan in his head for Strasburg, and Strasburg says he trusts what they're doing, and we're on board with the concept of not rushing him...but it sure seems like he's ready now. 

While we're speaking of phenoms: The brouhaha over Bryce Harper's makeup just seems sort of ridiculous. Consider this, for a moment: have you ever met a 17 year old kid who isn't an arrogant prick? Now, Mike Rizzo -- who seems to place a premium on things like "aura" and "makeup" in players, all in the name of chemistry -- wouldn't actually pass on Bryce Harper because the kid is an a-hole teenager, right? Right?!? He's 17!

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Comments

[Big Oil]

In all seriousness, this is why the Enquirer is one of my favorite Nationals websites:

"Consider this, for a moment: have you ever met a 17 year old kid who isn't an arrogant prick? Now, Mike Rizzo -- who seems to place a premium on things like "aura" and "makeup" in players, all in the name of chemistry -- wouldn't actually pass on Bryce Harper because the kid is an a-hole teenager, right? Right?!? He's 17!"

[Swampy]

Maybe I missed something... Was any explanation given as to why they pulled Strasburg so early in his second start (Apr. 16)?

[The Nationals Enquirer]

@Swampy: rain + power problems at the Stadium delayed the start by a few hours. Then the rain started up again 2+ innings in: game was called off at that point. Our sources say Strasburg didn't feel like pitching: he caused the inclement weather.

[cass]

To be clear, Strasburg did pitch to start the game after a two-and-a-half our rain delay, but after 2.1 innings, the rain started pouring again and the umps called another rain delay. The delay lasted an hour or so, so both starters had to be pulled from the game because they woulda been too cold and risking injury if they pitched.

For what it's worth, everyone stayed through the first rain delay to see Strasburg pitch, but only a few hundred remained for the rest of the game. It was a lot of fun, even if driving home to DC in the wee hours of the morning was not so pleasent.