Florida Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton had three hits (though one came on a questionable call in the ninth inning where it looked like he forced the runner in front of him) and scored two runs in his Major League debut. He definitely looked like he belonged, watching footage on MLB Network.

But the rookie who stole the show on Tuesday was the highly acclaimed franchise savior for the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg.

The phenom, who entered professional baseball under controversial circumstances when his agent, Scott Boras, threatened to hold him out unless he got $50 million to sign, was every bit the stud he was advertised to be. He tossed seven innings, striking out 14 and walking none in getting his first MLB win.

The only blemish on his line was a homerun hit by Delwyn Young, who later made one of the few appearances he’ll ever make on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight to talk about how you approach hitting a rookie stud like Strasburg. Basically, from the looks of it, his answer should have been walk up to the plate, close your eyes and swing.

The coverage of the Strasburg event was a bit laughable. It was the first and probably last time this decade where the Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates achieved headliner status on the same day. Both ESPN and MLB Network, which interviewed Pirates rookie Neil Walker about facing the new hurler, did wall-to-wall coverage. It had to be the most publicized debut in ages.

But as I said, Strasburg proved worthy of the accolades. I didn’t get to watch the entire game, but the highlights were impressive. Even more to my liking was the postgame interview, during which Strasburg appeared calm, collected and reasonably humble. He talked about the adrenaline he felt and the support of the crowd, about how this was just one game and about how his goal this game, next game and down the line will be to keep his team in the game and give his teammates a chance to win.

It’s been the lifetime of the franchise since the Nationals have had a real chance to do so on any kind of regular basis. As skeptical as I was that Strasburg could live up to the hype he entered pro baseball with, he appeared Tuesday as though he will be up to the challenge.

Let’s keep in mind that he’s going to have to live up to these expectations for the next 10 to 15 seasons. But this was a very, very impressive debut.