Rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg seemed to pick up yesterday right where he left off after his 14-strike out debut on June 8 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, striking out the first two hitters he faced to start the first inning.

With this being Strasburg’s second start after striking out 14 with no walks in his first appearance, it was just a matter of time before he did give one up. That came in the fourth inning to another rookie in only his third major league game, Carlos Santana.

After a solid performance, Strasburg was pulled in the sixth after loading the bases but not before tallying eight K’s, walking five and giving up one home run which was one of just two hits. The Nats won 9-4, breaking a two-game losing streak.

The win improves Strasburg’s record to 2-0 and his ERA to 2.19. Like in game one, Strasburg had almost complete control. You could hear the sound of the ball popping Ivan Rodriguez’s mitt and knew it had to be traveling close to or at 100 mph.

Rodriguez seemed to notice Strasburg was having some problems with the mound early in the game, though Strasburg denied it at first. But in the fifth inning, he admitted he was sliding a bit and the ground’s crew came out to fix the mound before Strasburg started the sixth inning, but by then Strasburg, while still throwing in the 100 mph range, showed he was human. Manager Jim Riggleman, who had originally said he was going to hold Strasburg to a 100 pitch count, took him out after throwing 95 pitches, 52 of those strikes and with the bases loaded and the Nats leading 6-1.

Strasburg’s 18 strikeouts before issuing a walk is second in the majors. Johnny Cueto, of the Cincinnati Reds holds the record of striking out 22 batters before issuing a walk. He achieve that feat in 2008. That same year, Strasburg was a sophomore at San Diego State University. He went 8-3 with a 1.57 earned run average and 133 strikeouts in 971/2 innings for the Aztecs. That same year he struck out a Mountain West conference record 23 batters in a game on April 11 against the University of Utah. He has one career no-hitter, recorded in his final home start on May 8, 2009, against Air Force, where he also struck out 17 batters.

After two solid outtings, the consensus is if Strasburg can keep healthy, he could become the best pitcher Major League Baseball has ever seen.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

In addition to contributing to Sports Climax, Miriam Romain maintains a Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com. The Chicago native has also been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC