If the Nats won’t say it, I will: Thanks for everything, Stephen StrasburgBoz's Stras tribute. First, he does some of the stats:
But Stras will always be the symbol, and the central core, of the Nats’ run from 2012 through their 2019 World Series title.
In the Nats’ four NL East-winning seasons, plus their wild card year in 2019, Strasburg went 83-33, including 6-2 in the postseason. No other Nat was a star on all five playoff teams.
His career culminated in one long mature crescendo. From his June return from the disabled list in 2015 through the 2019 World Series, the Nats were an incredible 92-35 in his starts. That .724 percentage approaches the Dodgers’ mark (.742) when Sandy Koufax started in his final five years.
Calls out the Lerners for their jerky way of handling announcing his retirement and for not giving the fans a chance to show appreciation this past month. I'll add, Doo got a great send off last night, but can you imagine what the reaction would have been for Stras?
He then switches into a perspective framing his accomplishments.
For many years I have been mildly, but persistently, annoyed by the inability of many to get a reasonable perspective on Strasburg. His pitching should be viewed aesthetically and emotionally as well as statistically.
...
But those inside the game see it differently. For them, the game is a dream born in childhood; a bare-knuckled daily struggle as an adult; a living theater of piercing break-your-heart career arcs; a shot at a pot of gold. But always, it’s a story bristling with romance; you might end up a character in a beloved 150-year national narrative.
By that standard, Strasburg fulfilled his athletic destiny.
He relates a story from Jayson Werth on just how scary it was to face Stras when they were both on a rehab assignment.
He dips into more stats, on his all time place in MLB on winning percentage (25th since 1900), WHIP (top 15), opponents batting average (20th since 1920, or since the deadball era), and of course K/9 (7th). His career went downhill at 31. For comparison, Koufax retired at 30 after his peak win year.
At this point, he slips into literature for a comparison.
John Keats, one candidate for greatest poet in the English language, died when he was 25. Now, 202 years later, no one begins evaluating him by saying if only he hadn’t had tuberculosis, he would have written more poems.
Art, in all its forms, exists in a galaxy far away, which we visit with gratitude, not with quantification.
Bolded the money quote.
Boz analogizes to Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse, while tossing a reference to Stras being 4th in post season ERA for pitchers who threw more than 50 innings. talks about the chills he gets from listening to them, then talks about the chill he gets when he watches one of Stras's greatest performances:
Let’s see, how about Sept. 10, 2017? I think I’ll just ask the DVR for that one. “Strasburg allows two hits, one walk and fans 10 in eight innings to run his consecutive streak of scoreless innings to 34⅓ as the Nats clinch their fourth NL East title in six years.” Game Score: 87. The best such number of his career. His 14-strikeout debut was just 75. Hey, he gave up two runs!
Here we go. First batter sees 96 mph paint at the letters three times, then freezes on a third-strike curveball that drops a foot-and-a-half to the knees at 82 mph. Strasburg finishes the frame with a three-pitch strikeout: change-up, curveball, change-up, each placed into a teacup.
Yeah, I think I’m going to have to watch it all. And say, “Thank you.”
Pardon me for the longish excerpt, but Boz hits it out of the park again. Please click on the link if you like great writing.
