[外電] Hallion recalls Strasburg debut with …

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Hallion recalls Strasburg debut with fondness Home-plate umpire impressed with outing in righty's first start By Bill Ladson / MLB.com 06/12/10 1:29 AM ET CLEVELAND -- During his 17 years in Major League Baseball, Tom Hallion had the pleasure of umpiring in postseason and All-Star Games. On Tuesday, Hallion was behind the plate when Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg made his big league debut against the Pirates. Hallion recently said that it was one of the greatest moments of his career as an umpire -- and for good reason. Strasburg pitched seven innings, allowed two runs on four hits and struck out 14 batters as the Nationals defeated the Pirates, 5-2, at Nationals Park. "Usually with baseball, the hype usually turns into a dud, but [in Washington], the hype turned out to be a super hype," said Hallion, who is also a crew chief. "It was pretty neat to watch. What was going on in the stadium Tuesday night was like a playoff atmosphere. ... It was a nice boost for this city and [the Nationals]. It was great for baseball." Since Strasburg was a rookie, Hallion expected Strasburg to be all over the place with his pitches, but that wasn't the case. Strasburg didn't walk a batter and that made it easy on Hallion for most of the game. "I was interested to see his stuff just like everybody else," Hallion said. "I wanted to see what he had. I'll tell you this: he did not disappoint anybody. "His control was the biggest part of him and that I was most shocked at. I knew his curveball was a hard break and then to watch it and see it come in, you go, 'Wow.' You don't see it that hard. For a kid -- 21 years old -- to have a change up like he has, it was pretty neat to watch. After the second inning, I kind of put it on cruise control and let him take over the game. It was a lot of fun." Hallion compared Strasburg's control of his pitches to a young Dwight Gooden, who entered the Major Leagues at age 19 in 1984. That year, Gooden had 276 strikeouts in 218 innings for the Mets. "That is probably the only one I could compare to Stephen," Hallion said. After the Nationals defeated the Pirates, Hallion and his crew -- Ron Kulpa, Lance Barksdale and Ed Rapuano -- went in the umpire's room and were amazed that the game lasted two hours and 19 minutes and by Strasburg's domination. "It was kind of like, 'Wow,' which may not happen every time he pitches," Hallion said. "But to come out with all the hype, then have the composure that he had and to completely have control of the game, that's what we were most impressed with. It was a fun game." http://is.gd/cMMiQ -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)