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Tuesday, Apr.02/2013

Just as impressive as Harper 2 HRs yesterdayn- was Strasburg’s being unleashed on the world for a full season.  His start featured an 80 pitch performance over 7 shutout IP. Strasburg didn’t even have his best command – falling behind 1-0 on 13 of the 23 batters he faced. He finished the day with only three Strikeouts, but no walks and giving up only 3 hits.

By David Huzzard (Nationals Correspondent via Citizens of Natstown.com – view website here): Follow @davidhuzzard

Seeing Stephen Strasburg picked to win the Cy Young should come as no surprise to anyone. He did finish 2012 tied with Gio Gonzalez for the best FIP in the majors at 2.82 – and led all starters with a staggering 11.13 K/9. There are arguments that can be made that when Stephen Strasburg is firing on all cylinders –  he is the best pitcher in the NL and among the best on the planet.

The same argument cannot be made for Bryce Harper as an Outfielder. Based on stats last year,  he finished seventh in the NL in fWAR and tied for eighth in wOBA with Jay Bruce and Garrett Jones.

No one is picking Jay Bruce or Garrett Jones for their MVP. In all of the NL Bryce Harper‘s .352 wOBA ranked sixteenth.

Bryce Harper 2 HR Performance On Opening Day – MLB Reports does not own anything from this video:

In 2012, Harper was the sixteenth best offensive player in the NL – and the seventh best Outfielder. While this is impressive for a 19-year-old, it is not enough to make one think Harper is an MVP candidate.

There his name was alongside Joey Votto, Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, and Buster Posey as a player people not only thought would be among the best in baseball, but the best in an entire league.

It is rare for so many people to pick a player that needs at least a .150 jump in OPS to even be considered, and it is even rarer that said player performs like an MVP on Opening Day.

For years the Nationals haven’t just been under the radar they haven’t even been an afterthought, but in winning 98 games in 2012 with two of the highest ceiling players on the planet a lot of the attention of the baseball world has turned towards Washington. Harper likes the spotlight.

He will never shy away from being a star and with two HRs in his first two At – Bats of 2013 – he has made an already bright spotlight even brighter. It is hard to base anything on a player’s performance in one game, but Bryce Harper not only handled the added pressure of being expected to contend for an MVP, he shined. Watch the video of his Home Runs.

Not only did they come on inside breaking balls, pitches Harper struggled against in 2012, but on his second HR Harper’s back foot leaves the ground. He hit the baseball out of the park with his pivot foot off the ground. It could be argued he generated that much torque or one can watch and be amazed.

Harper is the 1st man in MLB History to ever hit 2 HRs on an opening day!

Then we have Stephen Strasburg..  The majority of his outs came on weakly hit ground balls, and with Strasburg falling behind so many batters – that is more indicative of a poor approach by the Marlins.

With Strasburg being such a feared strikeout pitcher he is going to cause batters to take weak swings just to put something in play early in the count and that might be what was on display against the Marlins or it could be that the Marlins line-up included Juan Pierre, Placido Polanco, and Casey Kotchman.

It is hard to not be impressed by seven shutout Innings however they come about. Strasburg put on a display of imposing his will on the hitter.

Even if the Strikeouts weren’t what fans expected, the results were. Stephen Strasburg did run into a little trouble in his seventh and final Inning. With Giancarlo Stanton on Third Base and Polanco on First with one out and Rob Brantly at the plate a medium deep fly ball was hit to Bryce Harper. Stanton attempted to tag, thought better of it, and returned to Third.

Polanco however did not return to any base and may have been attempting to take Second on the throw Home, but Harper’s throw arrived so quickly to the plate Polanco merely looked lost and was soon caught in a rundown.

With Polanco in the rundown Stanton attempted to break for Home, but was gunned out by Espinosa to complete the routine 7-2-3-4-2 double play.

That final play of the 7th Inning involved both Strasburg and Harper. It was Strasburg’s 80th and final pitch that led to the interesting play and Harper’s preternatural throwing arm that made it possible. Strasburg was lifted by Davey Johnson after that.

It is rare for two players on the same team to be picked to be Cy Young and MVP in the same season, and it is even more rare that they come out and perform like Cy Young and MVP candidates in the teams very first game.

It is a long baseball season with 161 games left to go, but Opening Day’s 2 – o win was a glimpse of the talent and potential of Strasburg, Harper, and what could be a historic season for the Washington Nationals.

Stephen Strasburg has quickly learned the self – preservation game of short Innings Pitched for number of pitches thrown. The big Right Hander threw 80 baseballs in just 7 IP last night. Davey Johnson then pulled him. The critics will never back down from the Nationals so – called “babying him”, but this was a great move. The Nationals will have a great Bullpen to close down games this year with Storen and Soriano nailing down contests for them.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***

A big thank-you goes out to our ‘Nationals Correspondent’ David Huzzard for preparing today’s featured article.  David  is a Pro bono sports writer for Citizens of Natstown, We Love DC, and Blown Save Win. He is also the Co-host of The Citizens of Natstown Podcast.  David is from Fairfax, Va.  You can follow him on Twitter and talk about the game of baseball. Follow @davidhuzzard 

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