Phenom Strasburg will debut tonight for Nationals

WASHINGTON - The anticipation is nearly over. Stephen Strasburg, the 21-year-old with the 100-mph fastball and the curve that freezes batters, makes his Nationals debut tonight.

Standing-room-only tickets went on sale yesterday, all part of a rare Nationals Park sellout. The Internet is humming with offers for good seats. More than 200 requests for media credentials have been submitted.

As far as the Nationals are concerned, Strasburg's big-league debut is best summed up in one word: Finally.

"I'm looking forward to that first outing or two being out of the way," manager Jim Riggleman said. "I know the attention's not going to go away completely, but the anticipation has been building since the draft - and before the draft - last year."

No one's seen anything like it. A No. 1 overall pick who gets rock-star, hire-extra-security treatment in Harrisburg and Rochester.

The Nationals are having a decent year after back-to-back 100-loss seasons, but everything they've done has been overshadowed by talk about a player whose debut against the Pirates has been given its own baseball holiday nickname: "Strasmas."

"I feel like I've been ready," Strasburg said after five scoreless innings for Triple-A Syracuse at Buffalo last week. His combined stats in Double-A and Triple-A: 7-2, 1.30 ERA, 65 strikeouts, 13 walks in 551/3 innings.

Having invested heavily in Strasburg with a record $15.1-million deal over four years, the Nationals wanted to save money down the road by calling him up after June 1, delaying by one year the date when he will be eligible for arbitration.