Stephen Strasburg

We know Stephen Strasburg can be a stubborn, hard-nosed competitor. We saw it last season when the Washington Nationals insisted on shutting him down early and Strasburg tried every trick in the book to avoid it. He was mentally tough when he was fighting to save his spot in the rotation and play in the postseason. So where was that guy Saturday after Ryan Zimmerman's throwing error in an eventual loss to the Cubs ? Because the guy we saw couldn't shake it off, showed his general disgust to everyone in the ballpark, then walked a guy hitting below the Mendoza line, gave up a two-run double to pitcher Edwin Jackson , walked David DeJesus , allowed a single to Starlin Castro and a two-run single to Anthony Rizzo . Last season, the bull-headed Strasburg simply gets the next batter out, inning over.

I read with great disappointment Adam Kilgore's March 10 Sports story about Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg [ "Should Strasburg tweak his delivery?" ]. It was inaccurate to say that I made a "definitive assertion" that a specific mechanical movement led to Strasburg's injury. Rather, I agree with Dr. Tim Kremchek, who was quoted as saying that it is impossible to know for sure how Strasburg's injury happened.  Findings on how mechanical flaws correlate with pitchers in general, not one pitcher in particular, are based on thousands of pitchers who have been tested in the biomechanics lab of the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI)

Strasburg shakes off a ‘scare' of a line shot Tranquility defined this Nationals spring training until Friday afternoon, when in the most frightening way imaginable it disappeared. Stephen Strasburg stood on the center of the diamond. His pitching coach, manager and trainer surrounded him. They inspected the hand he kept flexing and shaking. The moment mercifully passed. Strasburg threw one warmup pitch, and the team officials ambled back to the dugout. The line drive Prince Fielder had ripped back at him — "a bullet," Manager Davey Johnson said — and off the base of his left hand rendered his wrist tender and red. "But nothing crazy," Strasburg said.

Before anyone utters one more ridiculous statement about how wrong it is to heed medical advice and take Stephen Strasburg out of a pennant race to preserve his surgically reconstructed right arm, here's what Leo Mazzone, John Kruk and others need to know: There is no best record in baseball, there are no visions of a World Series run, if the Nationals had decided to do it any other way. Because Scott Boras, the agent who represents Strasburg,...

Now can we finally move past the angst over bringing Stephen Strasburg up to the majors in September, the worry that his elbow ligament was replaced with a Red Vine encased in uncooked rigatoni? I'm no doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but he seemed just fine Tuesday night. I never thought the Washington Nationals would rush Strasburg to the majors with absolutely nothing on the line except a desire to finish out of the cellar and somewhere in the ballpark of a .500 record.

There was a familiar face at the heart of several celebratory scrums and sprayings of champagne and beer, one who hasn't climbed on a mound for the Washington Nationals since Sept. 7. Stephen Strasburg was every bit a part of the Nationals' exhilaration after the team clinched the National League East title on Monday night. Though his furiously debated innings limit has kept him off the field for the rest of the season, Strasburg soaked in the joy like the rest of his teammates.

JUPITER, FLA. — On Wednesday morning in Viera, Fla., Stephen Strasburg played catch with a Washington Nationals trainer in the outfield of Space Coast Stadium. He focused only on his next throw, one careful toss after the next, the monotonous churn that will eventually return him to a major league pitching mound. Strasburg paid no attention to the lingering questions about what happens when he does. Those questions — about what went wrong last year and what kind of pitcher he will be following his recovery from Tommy John surgery — drew new attention Tuesday after Sports Illustrated published on its Web site an article detailing a specific mechanical movement that, the piece asserted, led to Strasburg tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

NEW YORK — When the first pitch of what was supposed to be his final appearance in a baseball game this year hurtled toward home plate, Stephen Strasburg sat with a warmup jacket on his back, a hat on his head, in the Washington Nationals ' dugout. The pitch, an 89-mph fastball that sailed wide of home plate for a ball, was thrown by John Lannan , a pitcher with only a fraction of Strasburg's ability but, beginning Wednesday night, a distinct advantage over the Nationals' ace: Lannan can participate in Washington's pennant race, and Strasburg can only watch it. This was supposed to be Strasburg's finale, Wednesday at Citi Field against the New York Mets , his 29th and last start of the Nationals' turnaround season.

Doctors who specialize in sports medicine, including leading authorities on the type of ligament replacement surgery performed on the throwing arm of Stephen Strasburg , say they aren't surprised by the Washington Nationals ' decision to end their star pitcher's season early sometime next month. Even so, they acknowledge there is no consensus on whether it is a necessary step. The approach the Nationals are taking — shutting Strasburg down once he reaches a yet-to-be-decided cap, possibly between 160 and 180 innings — is being scrutinized and studied carefully by many across the sport.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wednesday afternoon, under a cloudless blue sky at AT&T Park, Stephen Strasburg offered one of the final impressions of his season, a show to appreciate and a break from the cacophony surrounding his impending shutdown . The performance — batters flailing at change-ups, falling out of the box against curveballs — encapsulated all of what makes Strasburg who he is, a figure worth protecting and begging to see more of....