After attending several hundred baseball games — majors and minors — in 20 years in Southern California, I have been to exactly two in nearly 13 years in Georgia.
Time just passes so damn fast.
Both games, the first in 2012 and the second in 2018, were the Washington Nationals coming to Georgia to play the Atlanta Braves. The first game was at Turner Field and the second at Truist Stadium.
The first one was memorable as early in the first season of what would we the beginning of an eight-year run by the Nats that would culminate in them winning the 2019 World Series.
It was also the first and only time I saw Stephen Strasburg pitch in person.
Strasburg was the first in a list of major Nationals stars that would include Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon in Trea Turner. With the exception of Harper, the other five all played in the World Series in 2019.
And with the retirement of Strasburg last week, they are all gone now.
It’s easy to think of Strasburg’s story as a tragedy. Since the start of the 2020 season, he has pitched a total of 31 1/3 innings and has won exactly one game.
I used to think of the Cubs’ Mark Prior when I thought of Strasburg, but there is really no comparison. Prior’s career lasted just five seasons and he won 42 games. He had one wonderful season going 18-6 and finishing third in Cy Young voting in 2003.
Strasburg pitched 1,470 innings nearly all of it is his first 10 seasons. He had a stellar 113-62 record, and was so amazing down the stretch in the 2019 season and in the playoffs, he will always be remembered in Nationals history.
I’m glad I got to see him pitch.