(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

It was one year ago today that the the young man with the $500,000 baseball card, Stephen Strasburg, finally made his major league debut at Nationals Park. He was great, too:

So when Delwyn Young, hardly someone who you’d imagine would do it — cranked a homer that barely cleared the fence in the right-center power alley, Strasburg suddenly seemed, I don’t know, human. But there he was, the next inning and the next and the next, back to throwing the ball 99 miles per hour and making the same men — including Young — look utterly foolish, over and over and over again. He made a couple mistakes. But he refocused his efforts. Shook off the dust. And got back on that hill with all the determination that he’s exhibited since April. Stephen Strasburg took all the expectation, all the hype, and all the talk and turned it on its head with a most dominating performance, including a final inning of work which was a masterwork in power pitching.

That’s why we know he’ll be successful. Because he messed up, like we all do; but he put it behind him and walked away with the win on one of the most electric nights in Washington sports history.

The Post got all nostalgic earlier this week, too.

But before you question our collective fawning over what, in the grand scheme of things, hardly seems like a momentous anniversary, consider this: since Strasburg went down last summer, things have been pretty awful around here, sports-wise. The Capitals crapped out of the playoffs (again), the Wizards stunk (again), D.C. United finished its worst season in club history, and the Redskins (who missed the playoffs — again) are now mostly known for being owned by a guy who sues journalists and having a player who stands accused of sexually abusing a waitress at the W Hotel. Just when we’ve needed it, a post-Strasburg sporting ineptitude has coated this town, preventing us from getting a lift, if however temporary, out of the general funk that’s descended on Washington.

Strasburg started throwing again from a mound last month. Come back soon, kid; this place sure could use the positivity on display that night again.