Strasburg, Stanton Debut

The 2010 MLB Draft started last night and Bryce Harper was the number 1 overall pick, selected by the Washington Nationals. Harper has even been referred to as the best hitting prospect since Mickey Mantle. He graduated high school 2 years earlier and now is with the College of Southern Nevada.

Speaking of Washington, their number 1 overall pick makes his major league debut tonight...pitcher Stephen Strasburg. He had 65 strikeouts in over 55 innings pitched in the minor leagues (AA-Harrisburg and AAA-Buffalo) and has been impressive even before Spring Training. I was at his first spring training game facing the Tigers in Viera, FL and I was impressed with his 2 innings of work. He does give up a lot of groundouts and is known for his 2-seam fast ball. Strasburg faces the Pirates tonight in a rarity sold-out Nationals Park. Definitely gonna be an interesting game with the extensive media coverage (game on MLB Network) and the fans are in for a real treat.

Another pick from last year's draft also makes his debut tonight...Mike Stanton of the Florida Marlins. The numnber 1 prospect for the Marlins has had an impressive minor league career. In only 52 with AAA-Jacksonville this year, he has had 21 homers, 52 RBI and a 1.167 on-base slugging percentage. He has only struck out 53 times this year and one of his home runs went between 500-550 feet. Stanton is expected to play in right-field and gives a boost for this team as they start a 3-game set against the Phillies.

OTHER MLB STUFF
1) Interleague action resumes next weekend and some of this weekend's series include Philadelphia at Boston, Chi White Sox at Chi Cubs, LA Angels at LA Dodgers and Oakland at San Francisco.

2) The Orioles fired manager Dave Tremblay last week, and new manager Juan Samuel is off to a 1-2 record, all against the Red Sox. In that series, Boston outscored the O's 21-5, including an 11-0 shutout by Clay Buchholz Friday. The O's now host the Yankees starting tonight.

3 There have been 2 perfect games this season by Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay. Armando Galarraga almost made it number 3, except a routine play was called wrong by umpire Jim Joyce gave him a hit. In last Wednesday's game against the Indians, Galarraga pitched to Jason Donald who hit the ball towards Miguel Cabrera, who threw it to Galarraga covering 1st and Joyce ruled that play a hit. Honestly, it was unfair because that was a routine play and it should've been out. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig refused to reverse the call and this is now known as "Galarraga's near-perfect game". On Thursday's game, he received a Chevy Corvette.

OTHER SPORTS NOTES
1) The World Cup starts Friday in South Africa featuring 32 teams. I'm looking forward to the USA/England match on Saturday which should be exciting. My prediction for the tournament is that England beats Brazil in the Final.

2) Finals for both the NHL and NBA have also been exciting. As I stand from my Twitter feed, I say the Celtics win in 6, while the Blackhawks take home the Stanley Cup tomorrow night.