Nothing much new on Stephen Strasburg today. The team confirmed he will undergo a second MRI on Thursday.
What was Strasburg-related was some sudden request for timeoff by Nationals TV color man Rob Dibble. While no official announcement has been made, team president Stan Kasten did confirm with the Post’s Adam Kilgore that Dibble would be taking some time off.
Recommended Stories
Dibble ignited some controversy with comments that he though Strasburg should pitch through his current injury and called into question the pitcher’s toughness. The problem is that his comments seemed to indicate it was Strasburg’s choice to sit out while it was a team decision. So in short he was questioning the motives of the people that put him on the air – which is usually not a good career move.
OF Josh Willingham underwent surgery on his left knee, performed by team doctor Wiemi Douoguih at Washington Hospital Center. In layman’s terms, they scoped his knee to clean up debris around his medial meniscus, according to Nats trainer Lee Kuntz. He will go through 4-6 weeks of rehab and will remain with the team for the time being. Hammer is already on the 15-day DL and will miss the remainder of the season.
SS Ian Desmond returns to the lineup tonight after being out of the starting lineup for two consecutive games due to a sore right thumb. He made a pinch-hitting appearance in last night’s 5-4 loss to the Cubs.
Tonight’s lineups
Moving on to tonight’s ball game, the Chicago Cubs (53-74) look to complete their 3-game sweep of the Nats (53-73), after beating them 5-4 last night.
On paper this is a matchup of two ground-ball pitchers with the Cubs sending Ryan Dempster (11-8, 3.56 ERA) to the mound against former teammate Jason Marquis (0-6, 11.39). Marquis has spent an extensive time on the DL this season and has stuggled, but did have a promising time out last time — giving up just one earned run and lasting five innings.
Game time is 7:05 p.m. and can be seen on MASN-HD and heard on 1500 AM and XM 185.
Here are the starting lineups:
| Cubs |
Nationals |
| Fukudome – RF Castro – SS Byrd – CF Ramirez – 3B Hoffpauir – 1B Soriano – LF DeWitt – 2B Soto – C Dempster – P |
Morgan – CF Desmond – SS Zimmerman – 3B Dunn – 1B Bernadina – LF Morse – RF Kennedy – 2B Nieves – C Marquis – P |
