Stephen Strasburg

In the privacy of his office late Monday afternoon, Nationals Manager Davey Johnson chuckled about all those Stephen Strasburg questions from the media after a 2-0, season-opening victory over the Miami Marlins. Johnson figured some would disagree with his decision to remove the right-hander after seven strong innings. And he couldn't have cared less. "Now don't you start in on me, too," Johnson said playfully, moments after addressing the move during a news conference.

There is anticipation that is rewarded, and there is what happened Monday afternoon at Nationals Park. Washington has hosted 80 seasons of major league baseball, nine since the sport returned in 2005, and even before Stephen Strasburg unleashed his first fastball and Bryce Harper took his first swing, this one brimmed with possibility. And on a day the Nationals began by revealing the 2012 National League East Champions banner above their massive scoreboard, they followed with something more dramatic: unleashing Strasburg and Harper on the rest of baseball.

Inside the clubhouse, watching the first inning on television, relievers Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard could hear Bryce Harper's name rumble over the Nationals Park speakers. They listened to the accompanying roar, the crowd frothing for Harper's first at-bat of the season. The moment reduced Storen to a daydreamer, same as the 45,274 souls wearing red and packing the seats. He leaned over and asked Clippard: "Can you imagine if he hits a home run right now?" "It would be like that perfect thing to happen," Clippard said later.

The Washington Nationals' season begins at 1:05 p.m. today against the Miami Marlins. After they were picked by both Sports Illustrated and ESPN to win this year's World Series, the Nationals' performance will be eagerly watched. See below for complete coverage from The Post. Profile of manager Davey Johnson | Better with age Johnson is expected to leave the Nationals after this season: "To be able to coach, you have to know where a person is coming from. What were the circumstances now and in the past that got them to this point in their life?

For the first time in his career, Stephen Strasburg will climb the mound at Nationals Park for Monday's season opener and just pitch, external factors no longer hovering over him. When he made his big league debut in 2010, sky-high hype surrounded him. His second season was clouded by his recovery from elbow surgery. And last season was about his much-debated innings limit. Strasburg will fire the first pitch of the Washington Nationals ' highly anticipated 2013 season to Miami Marlins leadoff hitter Juan Pierre shortly after 1:05 p.m. This time, his main concern will be how to channel the excitement he has occasionally struggled to contain, as he did last April in his first opening day start.

Fear of success is a common human trait. Except among the successful. For those who follow the Washington Nationals as opening day arrives on Monday at 1 p.m. against the Miami Marlins, internalize this: The Nats love being one of the World Series favorites. They welcome the demands of success. The Nats know better than anybody that they may fail to meet their own high hopes this year. The Braves, bad hops, the Giants, slumps, the Dodgers, sore arms, the Reds and even Pete Kozma may worry them.

Marlins unveil lineup against Strasburg Opening day starter Stephen Strasburg has surprisingly found occasional trouble against Miami, the team he'll oppose Monday at Nationals Park. Overall, he is 4-2 with a 3.17 ERA over nine starts. But it was the Marlins who tormented him at the end of his truncated 2012 season. He made two of his three final starts against them, allowing 10 earned runs and 15 hits over just eight innings. Those performances convinced the Nats to end his season sooner than originally planned.

After he suffered his second major right elbow injury and underwent reconstructive surgery in 2010, Christian Garcia couldn't find a job. He understood why. Even though he was once a top New York Yankees pitching prospect because of his blazing fastball and cartoonish secondary pitches, he couldn't stay healthy. His right elbow had undergone three surgeries, two of them ligament replacements, and he was told he had a 5 percent chance of regaining his form. After 18 months of rehab on his own, Garcia spent four days in July 2011 with the St. Louis Cardinals, who were ready to sign him until the offer was pulled because a team doctor wouldn't clear his physical.

In the fall of 2008, as the clutches of the modern hype machine lunged for Stephen Strasburg , he received a phone call from an old baseball coach. Brian Cain invited him to watch the San Diego Show, the elite travel team for which Strasburg had once pitched. Cain had recruited a 15-year-old from out of state to compete on a team of 18-year-olds, and they were playing at a high school down the road from the Strasburg family home. Cain implored him, "You got to come see this kid. " Between the sophomore season that made him a scout's darling and the junior year that foisted unwanted celebrity upon him, Strasburg obliged and drove the few miles from the campus of San Diego State.

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.