Happy Strasmas anniversary: Remembering Strasburg's debut

Six years ago today, Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 batters in his big league debut for the Nationals against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Nationals won the game 5-2 before 40,315 fans at Nationals Park.

The Nationals moved to D.C. from Montreal in 2005. At the time, Strasburg's debut was the biggest baseball event in Washington since the 1933 World Series.

Among the highlights:

* Fans stood six deep to watch Strasburg warm up in the bullpen before the game. Then, as he and Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty walked to the Nationals dugout before the national anthem, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. McCatty tipped his cap, pretending that the ovation was for him. "He made me laugh and that kept me loose,'' Strasburg said.

* The day was nicknamed "Strasmas'' because of the magnitude of the event. It would be easy to argue that it was the most anticipated Washington rookie pitching debut since Walter Johnson at American League Park on Aug. 2, 1907

* The town of Strasburg, Va., was so excited they changed the name of their town to Stephen Strasburg, Va., for a day. After the performance, restaurants in D.C. served Strasburgers with 14 pickles - one for each strikeout.

* Strasburg's first strikeout came against the Pirates' Lastings Milledge in the first inning. Strasburg's first pitch as a big league pitcher was a ball inside to Andrew McCutchen. Fans booed when the umpire called it a ball.

* McCutchen and Neil Walker were the only .300 hitters in the Pirates order and they were hitting one-two. After that, the highest average in the Pirates lineup was .256 by Garrett Jones.

* Strasburg struck out the side in the second inning, getting Jones, Delwyn Young and Ronny Cedeno. Strasburg also struck out the side in the seventh, his final inning, getting Jones, Young and Andy La Roche, the younger brother of former Nationals first baseman Adam La Roche, on 13 pitches. "It's never easy to hit 97 to 100 mph when he's got a curveball like that,'' Andy La Roche said.

* At the time, Strasburg's 14 strikeouts tied Detroit's Max Scherzer - now his Nationals teammate - for the most strikeouts in a game for the season. Scherzer had 14 strikeouts for Detroit against Oakland on May 30.

* Strasburg threw 95 pitches, 65 for strikes. At one point, Strasburg was hitting 100 mph.

* The Pirates led 2-1 in the fourth inning when Young hit a home run on a 90-mph changeup.

* The Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham hit home runs against the Pirates starter Jeff Karstens. Tyler Clippard pitched the eighth inning for the Nationals and Matt Capps the ninth.

* Strasburg came up in the U.S. Senate. The two Senate leaders - Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - are both big baseball fans. McConnell joked on the Senate floor that the Senate would pray that Strasburg's arm stays healthy. Reid said Strasburg's talent was just what a championship-starved city needed.

* The Nationals said they were going to limit Strasburg's innings to 160 innings, including the 55 he threw in the minor leagues.

* Strasburg's second start was the following Sunday in Cleveland, the pitching home of Hall of Famer Bob Feller. Strasburg was considered by many to be the modern-day version of Feller because of his blazing fastball. The Indians said they sold 6,000 tickets in 24 hours after fans learned that Strasburg would be pitching in Cleveland.

* Strasburg was pelted with three shaving-cream pies after the final out of the game. He also had to wear an over-sized plastic Elvis wig.

* Strasburg was his usual humble self after the game. He said the only thing he remembered was the first pitch and the rest was a blur: "It's like when you get married. You go in wanting to remember everything and once it is done, you can't remember a single thing.''