It's not often that you to get witness first-hand two athletes in diametrically opposed sports making their debuts in such feverish circumstances. But getting to see Danica Patrick take her first laps in a stock car -- and run her first races at Daytona -- and Stephen Strasburg throw his first pitches for the Washington Nationals, beg comparisons.

Both were, and in fact are, being seen as saviors -- Patrick for NASCAR, which is struggling to match its previously stratospheric TV and live attendance numbers, and Strasburg for the Nationals, who have lost more than 100 games the past two seasons.

And while Patrick's first act has come and gone -- she's headed back to IndyCars before returning to run the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on June 26 at New Hampshire -- Strasburg's eagerly-as-awaited debut is scheduled for Tuesday. That's when the mainly minor-league roster of the Detroit Tigers comes calling at Space Coast Stadium.

Patrick's coming-out parties at the ARCA and Nationwide races at Daytona played out to scrutiny and interest not seen for decades in the former, and it certainly raised the bar for the latter.

Strasburg's party should be similar in scope.

To its credit, the Nationals organization has feathered the throttle in advance of Strasburg's debut. In fact they have soft-shoed it from the day they signed the phenom last summer.

Anyone who has paid attention knows that hardly was the case with ARCA and NASCAR and Patrick. She was continually paraded before reporters and photographers and camera people at Daytona, her every move sliced and diced and dissected ad nauseam.

She handled it well early, but as the grind wore on and her on-track struggles multiplied, she obviously became weary of the continual attention to the point that she fled from reporters and cameras at California.

Interestingly, Strasburg, who was very ill at ease in his first interview with four reporters and two photographers following an Instructional League workout here in August, has become much more comfortable and expressive with each subsequent session attended by subsequently more tape recorders.

That's not to say the Nationals' media relations people are not keeping a tight rein and a sharp eye on the proceedings. After all, with expectations at such a high pitch -- pun intended -- the last thing the team wants to do is have Strasburg distracted or worn down, especially since he has yet to pitch in a big league game. And especially since the water only gets deeper and the sharks only get hungrier from here.

Is Strasburg up for the challenge? That remains to be seen. While reaction to what Strasburg has shown so far in camp has been overwhelmingly positive, things change when an umpire stands in behind the plate and a batter steps into the box.

Patrick learned that when 42 other cars -- many driven by jockeys wanting or needing to make a name for themselves -- take to the track, the degree of difficulty rises significantly. Strasburg will begin his schooling against hungry batters on Tuesday, while Patrick will resume her classes in June. It should be fun to watch, again.