Rookie pitcher Steven Strasburg struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates batter Tuesday night -- and struck a chord with former ballplayers as well as full-time broadcasters in the process.Pick the network, venue and expert/host and the reaction to the right-handed pitcher's debut was unanimous. It was awesome, impressive, an overwhelming success. All those adjectives, praise and more, were heaped on the 14-strikeout effort.
Some of the praise, especially that from proven and trusted sources, sounded so over-the-top it would've been considered silly coming from anyone else.
But, when baseball voices such as Bob Costas, Orel Hershiser and Jayson Stark agree (and they represent just a small sampling of a unanimous chorus of praise), sports fans probably feel they should listen.
Costas, working with Jim Kaat and John Smoltz (two pitchers who amassed 496 victories during 46 years combined years in Major League Baseball), sounded almost reverential at times during the game broadcast on the MLB Network.
Afterward, as experts made the rounds on shows after the game and early Wednesday, Cy Young Award winner and former NLCS and World Series MVP Hershiser, who pitched a record 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988, offered some of the highest priase.
"It's going to be a possible Cy Young as soon as he pitches a full season," he said. "That's the kind of performance and talent that can go for innings without giving up runs."
Likewise, ESPN expert Stark, one of the best in the business covering baseball, said he changed his schedule to see Strasburg's debut -- something he never does. And he was happy he did, calling the effort more impressive than he expected.
Completing the sweep of praise was some from unusual sources, among them Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio. Often an appropriate and reasoned critic of some things baseball, he admitted he was on the Strasburg bandwagon and encouraged Major League Baseball to promote the pitcher -- simply because: "It's so rare when the performance meets or exceeds the hype."
For Strasburg to meet the hype and praise that have been heaped on him in just the past 18 hours might be difficult, though.