In his first inning, Stephen would strike out two batters and force one batter into a ground out. In his second inning of pitching we experienced the type of baseball drama that you tell your kids about. His first two batters were players that had actually been called up at the end of last season. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ Brandon Allen and the San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey received huge applause as they faced Strasburg. The Giants have a pretty strong following locally due to the farm team that the Giants used to have here and the fact that their Spring Training facility is about four miles away.

Facing players with big league experience, Strasburg did not miss a beat. He would walk Allen after several pitches and was followed by Posey who grounded into a double play. The third batter would then ground out. Another double play in the third would help keep his appearance scoreless before he was removed from the game in the top of the fourth. Strasburg would make 50 pitches with 32 of them strikes, allowing no runs, two hits and striking out two.

While the Air Force is not exactly known for their baseball, after throwing a no-hitter against the team while at SDSU, we were extremely interested in how he would perform. Not to mention the hype that surrounded him for the latter half of the 2009 regular season. We admit we were skeptics but, after seeing his composure in a relatively high-pressure situation, we are excited to see what else he can do.

The Nationals would hit a couple home runs in their 5-4 victory while the Diamondbacks fought valiantly with their own bats. The D-backs contributed with three doubles and a triple from the plate but it was not enough to combat the Nationals. Former D-back Adam Dunn would hit one of the D.C. home runs and receive some heavy booing while he rounded the bases. Additionally, in case you missed it, a fan would throw the ball back on the field from the right field bleachers. Not only did the fan throw it back but they threw it to the infield. Sign them up!

Although the loss to the Nationals and the debut of Hinch was lackluster, there appeared to be some additional motivation on the team. It appeared that there was a greater sense of urgency with the players. Also, Hinch argued a call that some may argue that Melvin would have let slide. Saturday is the second game of the three game weekend series.