Strasburg, Strasburg, Strasburg

The day has finally come. One of the most anticipated pitching prospect in the history of the game will be making his debut tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

And boy, Steven Strasburg couldn't ask for a better offense to make his debut against. The Pirates are 9-19 on the road and have scored only 92 runs in those 28 games. That means they are scoring just over 3 runs per game on the road.

The Pirates have scored more runs in the 1st inning this year than any other inning; the problem is they do very little after that. Tonight will be the biggest first inning they play all year long, as every baseball fan across the country will be paying attention to it. I wouldn't be surprised at all for Strasburg to be wild or ineffective early, just because he will most likely be a nervous wreck. If we're gonna score on him, it'll probably be early in the game before he gets comfortable and settles down. He will be on a pitch count and will not throw more than 100 pitches, he will most likely throw around 80-85. If Jeff Karstens pitches well tonight, the Pirates have a decent chance at winning the game.

The thing to look for tonight is the strikeout. Strasburg is one of the best strikeout pitchers that baseball has seen in a long time, and the Pirates lineup is extremely susceptible to the whiff. I'd expect the lineup to be similar to what Russell sent out Sunday against Lincecum, which was this:

1. McCutchen
2. Walker
3. Doumit
4. Jones
5. Milledge
6. Clement
7. LaRoche
8. Cedeno
9. Pitcher

There's no one in there that Strasburg will have a real tough time striking out if he's throwing how he can throw, so he could put up a good number of punch outs. My prediction is at 7. Ronny Cedeno leads the team in strikeouts at 44, followed closely by Garrett Jones at 42. Andrew McCutchen has also be fanning a lot, he has struck out 37 times. Don't be surprised if any of those 3 strike out 2 or 3 times tonight. I also wouldn't be surprised if Garrett Jones gives Strasburg his first career home run allowed, either.

I'll be back later with more on the big game tonight.