All signs point toward the return of Stephen Strasburg (15-4, 3.59 ERA), who has not pitched since getting rocked for nine runs over 1 2/3 innings August 17 at Colorado due to right elbow soreness that landed the All-Star on the disabled list. He walked off the field with his glove over his mouth, and immediately there was concern. The diagnosis was a strained flexor mass in the elbow, according to team trainer Paul Lessard.
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In the first season of a seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the Nationals, Strasburg is 15-4 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. Gio Gonzalez has been in the rotation all season, but has been erratic and had to be pulled in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Braves.
“It’s good to hear it wasn’t what everybody was speculating”, Baker told reporters prior to Thursday’s game. “I did a lot of praying last night that it wouldn’t be as serious as everybody was panicking about, because how do you get anxious about something that you don’t know what it is?” Strasburg had spent the previous three weeks on the disabled list with a sore elbow, a condition he said affected him in between (but not during) starts.
Crisis seems to have been averted with Stephen Strasburg’s pitching elbow.
Lessard says the new injury is unrelated to the one that landed Strasburg on the DL.
“The rest of the elbow looks basically the same as the last MRI that we did”, Lessard said.
Strasburg was a National League Cy Young Award candidate before going on the DL.
“We have to do the best for the situation of what we have, and then make a determination on who is to take his place now and possibly later”, Baker said.
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“Everybody’s pretty satisfied of where we are at this point, and it’s very good to know”, Baker said.
