Washington Nationals

On Tuesday night, some friends and I went out to celebrate our friend Carrie’s birthday.

Actually, when we celebrate her birthday it’s usually a dual celebration. My birthday is the next day (yesterday), so the night always turns into a fun night.

The announcement was made yesterday that Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg is once again heading to the disabled list with a forearm strain.

After going on the disabled list in late July with an inflamed right shoulder, Strasburg was making just his third start since returning from that injury when he was pulled with the forearm injury.

Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals’  “Baseball Jesus” has been placed on the disabled list for the second time this season, and the team’s management and fans are understandably quite concerned.

Some people say that it is normal for a pitcher to have some arm soreness, especially since this is his first year of professional baseball, and his body is merely adjusting to his new pitching schedule.

There's one thing that you never, under any circumstances, want to hear when scouting a pitcher.

Raw? That's not a big deal. The pitcher can be developed in the minors, as long as it may take, and it can still work out.

Wild? That's a problem, but again, it can be worked out, whether it's just a wild arm or something psychological.

Lack of Passion? We are getting close, but even this is not the worst; if the pitcher has talent it can still work out. After all, Rube Waddell was a Hall of Famer.

When you're a fan of a team that never wins and has no real chance of winning, it's hard to get really excited.

There's no real point in hoping for a winner, so there are other things you have to get riled up about.

And it's doubly hard as a fan base to find things other than wins to really be passionate about as a united group.

Say the Nationals re-sign Adam Dunn...

Does that mean the team expects to be competitive next season?

The race for Most Valuable Player in the AL looks to be dominated by Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton. But what about in the NL?

Since the days of Walter Johnson, the fastball has been a pitch that, when mastered, can blow hitters away.

Many pitchers enjoy looking at the radar gun on their fastball, but here are the ones that really come in at high velocity.

These are the top 10 flamethrowers of 2010 so far ...

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The for the second year in a row, the Washington Nationals had the No. 1 overall pick in baseball’s June Draft, and for the second year in a row the Nationals signed that pick to a record setting deal.

So Bryce Harper signed a major league deal with the Washington Nationals worth $9.9 million last night before the midnight deadline.

Awesome.

But what does it mean?

To start with, it means he had to be placed on the 40-man roster, and that happened today with Luis Atilano being transferred to the 60-day disabled list.  He wasn't going to return this season after surgery on his elbow to remove bone chips.