By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Strasburg played catch Tuesday and went through his usual routine on the day after he pitches, a welcome sight after manager Davey Johnson said Monday night that the right-hander was dealing with forearm tightness.
Chris Young readily admits he doesn't know how the next few days of his career will play out. The day he can activate the out clause in his minor league deal with the Washington Nationals is Sunday. His next start is scheduled for Monday.
Strasburg is the unquestioned ace of a Nationals staff filled with talent, but Davey Johnson was reluctant to make it official with still more than two weeks to go before Opening Day because of how well-known it already seemed to be.
"I don't think he ever has a bad day," reliever Christian Garcia said on a recent spring morning. "He's just so nice."
Haren, 32, says he isn't coming in with the intent of being anyone's mentor. But that figures to happen anyway, even if he never says a word. With as much experience as the others combined, he can likely help the Nats as much off the mound as he can on it.
With 40 percent of their starting rotation now committed to Team USA, the Nationals' attention to the tournament has become much more personal.
Gonzalez has twice been brought up unprompted by manager Davey Johnson as one of the pitchers who has impressed most early. That's good news for the Nationals, who will lose him to Team USA after his third start of the spring.
Ramos felt a little weakness in his right knee, the one in which the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus have been repaired, and he was nervous about how his first session squatting, and catching, and putting his knees on the ground would go. He still has a mental hurdle when it comes to blocking balls, but he knows he will have to steel himself and get over it eventually.
Tyler Clippard knew something was amiss. That something was different. In the midst of a miserable September that stood in stark contrast to the way he'd pitched for the first five months, he sought out old video.
Maybe it was the two Tommy John surgeries. Or the nine years Christian Garcia spent traversing the minor leagues, either developing or rehabbing. But the Washington Nationals right-hander's major league career has lasted just more than a week, and pitching in a one-run game in the eighth inning of a pennant race doesn't faze him.
You could see it on the mound Friday night, where Stephen Strasburg pitched just three innings and allowed five earned runs against the Miami Marlins.
A day after announcing that Stephen Strasburg will start only twice more this season, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson met with the star right-hander to explain the decision.
Stephen Strasburg is already a man living through a season with an expiration date. The number of times he'll be able to take the mound in 2012 and dazzle, the way he did in the Nationals' 4-1 series-clinching, division lead-expanding victory over the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night, is dwindling.
They call him Mr. Consistency and they praise him for the repetitive nature in which he performs, with little deviation, every five days.
The Washington Nationals were up four runs Wednesday when manager Davey Johnson summoned Henry Rodriguez to pitch the eighth inning. The pressure was low, given the lead and the fact that he would be facing the bottom of the New York Mets' lineup.
"I just want him to understand he's human," McCatty said.
"He never said anything to me," said pitching coach Steve McCatty. "He was fine. Doctor looked at it, said he was fine. I didn't see horse prints and go out looking for zebras. So he had a little tightness? I'm not going to panic."
