Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Happy Strasmus!

Until yesterday, June 8th was known nationally as "The Monkey's Birthday," but after yesterday it will forever be known as "Strasmus"—and a happy Strasmus it was.

For those of you unfamiliar with such things, Strasmus was the major league debut of much-ballyhooed Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. For those us who sat in near-empty stadiums watching back-to-back 100+ loss seasons while stumblebums I'm too polite to mention by name made you despair of ever seeing professional baseball in the nation's capital again, Strasmus was the first day of Spring after five years of nuclear winter.

"Anything different would be good," said Phil Connor after reliving three thousand consecutive Groundhog Days. And different it was. Fourteen strikeouts in seven innings, including the last seven batters in a row, no walks, and a 5-2 win. Bang zoom go the fireworks, a curly W is in the books!

That Strasburg not only lived up to the hype but exceeded it is regarded in these parts as nothing short of the Second Coming.

We'll soon be returning to the blessed business of writing about movie history, but we here at the Monkey wanted to take a moment to celebrate the truly important things in life. Amen.

7 comments:

mister muleboy said...

I hate the Nats



Section 241 forever killed that fuckin' team for me




little-old-lady dementia might contribute, now that I think o' it. . . .

Mythical Monkey said...

Little-old-lady dementia pretty much killed 2006-2007 for me, although I've got to say Wily Mo Pena, Ryan Langerhans, Kory Casto, Jason Simontacchi, Luis Ayala, etc., didn't help much.

Mister S. said...

"Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO. Haven't heard that song in about 20 years, and now it's stuck in my head.

Happy Birthday, MythMon. Keep those essays coming.

And Merry Strasmus to all. Even to the perpetually grumpy Mister Muleboy (who as I recall, correctly predicted that Strasburg would spend only half a season in the minor leagues. I thought he needed more time to make the jump from college. Shows you what I know.)

Mythical Monkey said...

Good to hear from you, Mister S. Hope you and the missus are doing well. I'm with you -- I think Mister Muleboy will come around eventually. We just need more days like yesterday.

If you want something other than "Mr. Blue Sky" stuck in your head, click here. But be careful what you wish for.

Mythical Monkey said...

Although I've had this stuck in my head all day ...

Duke Forrest said...

Biscuit.



Or kids and biscuits.

Mythical Monkey said...

They grow up so fast ...