Rookie Lights Up the Speed Gun In His First Spot Light!

June 8th, 2010 will be a day that young rookie Stephen Strasburg will never forget as he finally made his first major league debut for the Washington Nationals and proved to everyone that he is the pitcher that everyone expects him to be. Last night at Nationals Park with a sold out crowd of 44 plus thousand fans on hand all eyes were on young Stephen Strasburg to finally see this kid pitch in the big leagues. With his first pitch being a ball it hit the speed gun at 97 mph, then with another fastball coming in clocked at 98 mph it was no joke that this kid throws some heat alone with nasty change-up, 2 seam sinker ball, and really good curve ball. At one point of this game he hit the gun with a 100 mph fastball that set up the rest of pitches to strike out 14 batters in 7 innings of work. Although he gave up a 2 run home run on 4 hits he bounced back and did what he had to do to keep his new team in the game. The 21 year old prove that someday he will be the number starting pitcher for this club whether it be next year or in 3 years this kid has the stuff the be one of the greatest pitchers in years to come if he stays healthy.

So Strasburg gets his first major league win (5-2) with a 2.57 ERA but remember he was pitching against the Pirates who aren't that great of a team and you like to see he face better line ups like the Braves, Phillies, Marlins and so fore to see how he would really do in the show, but still you have to say to yourself wow that's amazing that in his first major league debut he only went 7 innings striking out 14 hitters on 105 pitches. Strasburg during the whole night was clocked with fastball averaging from 97-100 mph on the gun and if he can keep that up during the rest of his career by also mixing up his pitches he will have no problem pitching in the big league. It’s just a matter of time to see if he will keep it up and if he can always control his fastball. Strasburg struck out 14 batters almost tying a major league record by a rookie that was set back in 1971 where J.R. Richard struck out 15 batters in a first major league debut. Strasburg is now second on the list with 14 K's in his first start. If you’re a Nationals fan you must be saying to yourself forget Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Adam Wainwright, Johan Santana. WE GOT STRASBURG!!!!!!!


This Beyond Rookies of Rookies, This Beyond Baseball.

Who Wants To Ride The Wain-Train?

If you were to ask who is the heart and soul of the St. Louis Cardinals most people would say Albert Pujols but if you were to ask me who the heart and soul for this ball club is I would pick big gun and third starter Adam Wainwright. On Friday night Wainwright picked up his 8th win of the season and his 2nd complete game and 1st shut out of the year against the Brewers by a score of 8-0. Wainwright only gave up 2 hits in the ball game striking out 8 batters on 103 pitches. His last start before Friday's game he went 7 innings against the Cubs where he picked up his 7th win of the year. In that game against the Cubs he also picked up 8 K's. Boy I'm telling you this guy is a pitching machine, who would think that this guy 3 - 4 years ago would be the guy leading his team in wins where he was in bull pen. Wainwright is the third starter for the Red Birds but he could easily be the number one starter. His first complete game this year came back on April 18, 2010 against the New York Mets where he struck out 9 Met batters. Wainwright this year is ranked 2nd in the NL in wins with (8), ranked 1st in the NL in strikeouts with (85), ranked 2nd in the NL in complete games with (2), and ranked 4th in the NL in ERA with a (2.05). Wainwright has definitely made a name for himself in St. Louis and have proven that he get the job done. Now who wants to ride the Wain-Train?


Seth Lempert,
For Beyond Baseball.


2010 NL CY Young

1. Rockies - Ubaldo Jimenez - ERA 0.78, 10 wins, 1 loss, 70 strikeouts.
2. Mets - Mike Pelfrey - ERA 2.39, 8 wins, 1 loss, 52 strikeouts.
Cardinals - Adam Wainwright - ERA 2.05, 8 wins, 3 losses, 85 strikeouts.
Phillies - Roy Halladay - ERA 2.03, 8 wins, 3 losses, 77 strikeouts.
3. Cubs - Carlos Silva - ERA 3.12, 7 wins, 0 losses, 42 strikeouts.
Cardinals - Chris Carpenter - ERA 2.76, 7 wins, 1 loss, 70 strikeouts.
4. Braves - Tim Hudson - ERA 2.30, 6 wins, 1 loss, 33 strikeouts.
Mariners - Josh Johnson - ERA 2.10, 6 wins, 2 losses, 77 strikeouts.
Padres - Jon Garland - ERA 2.15, 6 wins, 2 losses, 42 strikeouts.
Giants - Barry Zito - ERA 2.78, 6 wins, 2 losses, 48 strikeouts.
5. Giants - Tim Lincecum - ERA 3.14, 5 wins, 2 losses, 83 strikeouts.
Cardinals - Jaime Garcia - ERA 1.32, 5 wins, 2 losses, 51 strikeouts.

Perfection Taken Away! Griffey Hangs Up His Jersey.

After seeing Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay throw the 20th perfect game in Major League history 5 days ago, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarrage was on the verge of making history by begging the 21st pitcher to throw a perfect game and be the 267 pitcher to throw a no-hitter until the bottom of 9th with 2 outs away. With 2 outs away Jason Donald hit a weak ground ball over to first baseman Miguel Cabrera who threw over to the pitcher Galarrage who was covering first base and what everyone thought was a perfect game Donald was called safe. When you go back and look at the replay on ESPN.Com its clear to say that Donald was out by a foot step and umpire Jim Joyce blew the call that he makes 9 out of 10 times. "I cost the kid a perfect game. I saw the replay and I missed the call, I'm sorry. Worst call of my career." said Joyce. All Galarrage did was look at Jim Joyce with a smile and say are you kidding me? The next batter he got out on a ground ball and what could have been 27 up, 27 down, was 26 up and 28 down. He wouldn't get a no-hitter all he would get was a complete game shutout on 88 pitches thrown. Armando Galarrage could have joined Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay who have thrown perfect games this year and could have made history by begging the 3rd pitcher to throw a perfect game in one season that has never happened before and could have been the 21st pitcher to throw a perfect game and the 267 pitcher to throw a no-hitter. But thanks to Jim Joyce that didn't happen and the talk and buzz around Major League Baseball is now should instant replay be used for calls like this and not just for home runs or should it stay the way it is now? After seeing a call like this it makes you think that instant replay should have an effect to the game now. Armando Galarrage stayed perfect through 8 2/3 innings pitched until that call was made and all he had to say was "nobody is perfect and everyone is human and we all make mistake and if I was him I would be unhappy with myself but there's nothing I can do. It is what it is and I'm happy that he was man enough to say I'm sorry to me. I respect him for that and hopefully I'll get another chance at this again." So Galarrage who stayed cooled and calmed was indeed perfect but wasn't perfect on Wednesday night.



On Wednesday one of the all time greats Ken Griffey Jr. retires after playing 22 years in the big leagues and would put him 5th on the all-time home run list with 630 career home runs joining the list with Barry Bonds-762, Hank Aaron-755, Babe Ruth-714, Willie Mays-660, and now Ken Griffey Jr. joins that list. Griffey also retires with 1,836 career RBI's, 13 time All-Star, 10 time Gold Glove Winner, and won the 1997 AL MVP Award. Griffey never won a World Series and you would think he did when he played with the Mariners back in the early 90's when they had Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson and he never won a World Series. The best part of his career is that he never use steroids during his playing days and if injuries didn’t cost him his career he would have been the one to break the home run record and be the all-time home run king without a doubt and in my book and I think to every sports writers book he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He was just a great player all around he could hit, run, steal, catch, throw, everything you could ask for in a player and after 22 years in the big leagues it was time to hang up the jersey. Griffey played 13 years with the Seattle Mariners, 8 years with the Cincinnati Reds, and 1 year with the Chicago White Sox. He ended his career in Seattle the place that he calls home and probably the place that will retire his jersey number 24. The kid who brought life to the North West side of baseball is retired as one of the all time greats.



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