Stephen Strasburg pitched five shutout innings in his first Major League game since undergoing Tommy John surgery last September.

Stephen Strasburg met every reasonable expectation, and exceeded several ridiculous ones, in his nearly flawless return to the major leagues Tuesday night at Nationals Park.

Where’s the rust or the lost command? Who returns to the big leagues after 382 days away for elbow surgery with more precision and better efficiency than when he left? Who fans one Dodger on a 99 mph fastball, barely allows an audibly struck ball in five innings, but has the touch and finesse to fan both Matt Kemp and Andre Eithier on 90 mph change-ups?

It’s amazing how far we’ve come with Tommy John surgery.

Friday I posted a story from the Washington Post that included comments by Rob Dibble on how he believes an e-mail sent by Stephen Strasburg’s father to Nationals’ owner Ted Lerner was the reason he was booted from the MASN broadcast booth in D.C. last year. (The alleged e-mail stemmed from some comments Dibble made on air after Strasburg hurt his elbow during a game last year and the broadcaster told him to “suck it up.”)

After hearing about Dibble’s comments about his father, Strasburg took to Twitter in attempts to set the story straight:

For those of you wondering my dad doesn’t even have the Lerners’ email… Actually was a fan of Dibble believe it or not

Actually, if I’m deciding between whether or not to believe that it was Strasburg’s father that wrote the e-mail or one of Dibble’s fans, I’m going with Strasburg’s father. I wouldn’t put it past Lerner to a) give his e-mail to the franchise’s father and b) try to get Dibble off the air after he made some controversial comments about said franchise. But maybe that’s just me.

Either way, the whole situation is ridiculous. As I wrote yesterday, MASN hired Dibble to share his opinions and you don’t give Rob Dibble a job without taking a risk that he’s going to say something controversial. This is the same guy who was once involved in a brawl with then-manager Lou Pinella following a Reds game during his playing days. You hire Dibble to be a little edgy.

Alas, like all ridiculous stories, this one will die off soon enough. I actually think the only reason Strasburg responded to Dibble’s comments is because he’s hurt and isn’t pitching. If he had to take the hill in less than five days, I doubt he would be worried about anything that comes out of Dibble’s mouth. (Or at least I hope he wouldn’t.)

A year after he told Stephen Strasburg to “suck it up” after the Nationals’ starter injured his elbow (which resulted in him having Tommy John surgery), Rob Dibble is opening his mouth again.

According to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, Dibble claims that he was let go at MASN because of an e-mail that Strasburg’s father wrote to the Nationals’ owner Ted Lerner.

“Listen, it’s their team, they acted in their own interests,” he told FoxSports.com columnist Mark Kriegel. “And I’m gonna tell you something that I’ve never told anybody before. It was basically Strasburg’s father [who] e-mailed the owner and basically was offended by what I said.

“Now remember, I said that on my own radio show on another network, and his father e-mailed the owner and the owner wanted me out of there. so that’s the bottom line. So that should end it. I want Stephen to go on, never have my name brought up and have a great career. I had a great career, I had fun, had a great seven years, and it’s sad for me that people still associate me with him. There should be no association with him.”

As Steinberg points out, if Dibble doesn’t want his name to be associated with Strasburg then he shouldn’t be telling a national audience that the young pitcher’s father is the reason he no longer works for MASN. That’s just dumb.

That said, if Dibble is telling the truth then this entire situation is ridiculous. A father of one of the younger players got his feelings hurt so he wrote an e-mail to the team’s owner to get him kicked off air? Oh, brother. Is Strasburg’s father going to write an angry letter to every person who criticizes his son over his career? Because if he writes in to TSR, I’ll delete. I swear to God I’ll delete it.

Dibble is a loudmouth with little or no tact, but he shouldn’t have been let go for speaking his mind (regardless of whether you think he was wrong to tell Strasburg to “suck it up” or not). I mean, that’s what MASN paid him for, right? You don’t hire Rob freaking Dibble to sit there like Monte from the “Major League” movies and you certainly don’t fire him for being brash. Again: He’s Rob Dibble.

This isn’t high school athletics and millionaire players (or their fathers for that matter) shouldn’t be protected from the stinging words of the big bad media.

According to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, Stephen Strasburg has begun some light throwing, which is the first positive sign in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Strasburg made the short tosses in Southern California, where he is rehabbing from ligament-replacement surgery, which he underwent Sept. 3. Making his first light throws now, a week before spring training, means Strasburg remains on schedule on his 12- to 18-month road back to the majors.

While recovery time varies from pitcher to pitcher, Zimmermann’s experience sheds some light on when Strasburg may make his next major league appearance. The Nationals treated Zimmermann with extreme caution, and he made his first post-surgery appearance in the majors Aug. 26 last year, about 121/2 months following his August 2009 surgery. Since Strasburg underwent his surgery Sept. 3, he could feasibly return in the middle of September, at the very end of this season.

I’ve read the comments sections of various media outlets and some fans are predicting that Strasburg is the next Kerry Wood or Mark Prior. They say he’s over-hyped and won’t ever fully recover from the surgery.

To those people I would say this: If you’re a true baseball fan, then knock it off. You have the right to your opinion but let’s hope that this kid makes a full recovery because he’s great for the game. Sports need young stars like Strasburg to shine and it’s unfortunate that he’s suffered a bad fate early on. Hey, maybe he is the next Kerry Wood but let’s not wish it.

Thanks to the steroid era, baseball was ruined for almost a decade. Now that it has climbed out of the wreckage, the sport needs its young pitching stars to stay healthy. Baseball got a new lease on life and let’s hope that last season wasn’t just an anomaly.

Here’s hoping Strasburg makes a full and speedy recovery.

In the young history of the Washington Nationals franchise, the club has never had a winning season, has never come close to a playoff berth and has never finished above fourth place in the NL East.

When the Nats drafted phenom Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, there was suddenly hope on the horizon. And actually with the way the team had been compiling young talent in previous years, Strasburg only cemented the hope that was already there.

You know the rest. When Strasburg was called up earlier this season, he dazzled fans and flustered big league hitters with his outstanding stuff. He got hurt, came back, and then got hurt again.

Now GM Mike Rizzo admits that the young pitcher likely needs Tommy John surgery to repair a significant UCL tear in his pitching elbow. I could go into details, but why bother? The biggest takeaway is that Strasburg’s rookie season is over and it’s very likely that his 2011 campaign is done too, well before it had the chance to start.

It’s a massive blow for a franchise that doesn’t deserve any more sports heartache. Last August, Jordan Zimmermann (who was the team’s top pitching prospect before Strasburg came along) also had to undergo elbow reconstruction surgery and it took him a little over a year to return. Now Nats’ fans have to deal with Strasburg’s injury, just months after the club drafted another phenom in outfielder Bryce Harper.

The future is still very bright in Washington, as Strasburg will eventually come back and Harper will eventually be called up. But considering fans will have to continue to remain patient before seeing these two potential stars play together is a shame.

Whose dog did owner Ted Lerner kick for all the bad luck that this club has had to endure over the years?

After throwing a 90 mph changeup and grimacing on the mound in pain during the fifth inning of Saturday’s game against the Phillies, the Nationals have little choice but to shut down Stephen Strasburg’s 2010 season.

This is the second time this month that Strasburg has dealt with an injury. A couple of weeks ago he had a shoulder problem that caused him to miss some time and yesterday’s injury has been diagnosed as a strain of the flexor tendon in his right forearm. Considering this is a club that’s 17 games below .500 and 19 games back in the NL Central, this should be a no-brainer decision for the Nationals. Regardless of what a MRI reveals – his season should be over. Why risk further injury here?

Something that will be lost in the injury news is how well Strasburg pitched yesterday. He threw 56 pitches before departing the game, throwing 38 for strikes and allowing just one run on two hits to go along with his six strikeouts. He showed the type of mastery of hitters last night as he did when he was first called up in June.

But again, regardless of how good he looked or how many tickets the Nationals want to sell from here on out, they have to look at the bigger picture. Just because he has suffered a couple of injuries this year doesn’t mean that he’ll have issues the rest of his career and in fact, the early indication is that he should be fine. But why take any chances right now? Both the Nationals and Strasburg have more to look forward to than the rest of this season, which essentially means nothing.

Shut his season down, have him take a MRI and then proceed with how to handle the results. Getting the young phenom back onto the mound should be the least of the Nationals’ concerns right now.

When the 22-year-old face of your franchise says things like, “If he doesn’t want to play here, then we don’t want him here,” it’s hard not to take a liking to him.

That comment was uttered by Stephen Strasburg when asked whether or not he had any advice for Bryce Harper – the Nationals’ No. 1 overall pick this year who has until Midnight tonight to agree to terms with the club.

Here’s Strasburg’s full quote, courtesy of Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post:

“I don’t have any advice for him,” Strasburg said. “It’s his decision. If he wants to play here, he’s going to play here. He doesn’t need advice from anyone to confirm his views. If he doesn’t want to play here, then we don’t want him here. That’s the bottom line.”

Granted, it’s a little easier for Strasburg to say that now that he’s comfortably viewing the situation from the inside looking out. A year ago, Strasburg and the Nationals went down to the final seconds of the 2009 deadline before agreeing to a record-breaking four-year, $15.1 million contract. He’s represented by Scott Boras, the same agent that represents Harper.

Strasburg knows that signing a contract is just business. He had talent that the Nationals wanted, so he and Boras made them pay for that talent. But the bottom line is that he eventually did sign, which is something the 17-yard-old Harper has yet to do.

By saying what he did, Strasburg has drawn a line in the sand for Harper: You’re either with us, or against us. Strasburg reminds us that even though financial matters are part of the business, the game of baseball still boils down to competing. Seeing as how Harper is going to be a rich man know matter what, the only question that remains is whether or not he wants to compete along with Strasburg and an up-and-coming Nationals club.

If he doesn’t, then here’s hoping that he can sleep tonight knowing that he passed up on millions of guaranteed money.

The Nationals had to place starter Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to July 22) with right shoulder stiffness according to MLB.com. Apparently the young phenom was having trouble getting loose before his scheduled start against the Braves on Tuesday and thus, the Nats decided to scratch him from the game and then place him on the DL.

Like a shark smelling blood in the water, when an injury like this happens to a young pitcher, someone in baseball always takes the opportunity to predict future problems for the player. That someone in this instance is White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who told MLB Network Radio on Thursday morning that Strasburg’s arm action could result in future injuries.

From the New York Post:

“I am not wishing this guy bad, but for him to be having problems right now when they are really, really watching him what are they going to see when they are trying to get 220 innings from him? He does something with his arm action that is difficult, in my mind, to pitch a whole lot of innings on.”

“It reminds me a little bit of Kerry Wood, a little bit of Mark Prior. I hope I’m wrong about this,” said Cooper, whose White Sox were held to one run over seven innings by Strasburg in his third major-league start. “When you throw with the kind of talent and force that he can throw, you can break easier than let’s say a Mark Buehrle type.”

Wow, a prediction of future complications and references to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior? You went all out, Don.

Cooper has probably forgotten more about pitching than I’ll ever know and he’s just sharing his opinion, but all of this seems a little too convenient for me. Strasburg hasn’t even been on the DL for over 24 hours and Cooper is already making national statements that he could have future problems. Shouldn’t we hold off first?

Maybe Cooper will inevitably be proven right, but we have to wait and see. Just because Strasburg is having arm problems now doesn’t mean that he’s going to have the same issues in the future, nor does it mean that this injury is a prelude to a bigger problem. We just don’t know.

The key is that the Nationals are taking the situation seriously and are proceeding with caution. Strasburg is a massive part of their future and they’re going about this injury the right way. They need to protect their investment and considering they’re not playing for a pennant right now, it makes sense that they would put him on the DL instead of taking any chances.

I’m fully aware that he has only been pitching for about a month. I’m also aware that there are other pitchers in the National League who have been equally as impressive (the Cardinals’ Jamie Garcia being one of them).

But there’s still no excuse why Stephen Strasburg was left off the NL All-Star Game roster. In fact, there’s only one reason why he should be getting ready to pitch in L.A. two weeks from now and it has nothing to do with the number of starts he’s made or batters he has struck out so far in his young career.

Ever since Bud Selig decided to make the All-Star Game relevant in 2003 by awarding the winner home field advantage in the World Series, the pastime has taken on a ton of importance. And seeing as how the game means so much for the league that wins, isn’t it vital for both teams to field the best players?

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