Due to the field getting too wet and muddy for safe playing conditions, the game was suspended and will resume Friday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

August 21, 2010, for purposes of sheer hyperbole, is that the date that it happened: The “Forearm Twinge Heard ‘Round the World.” Games don’t get cancelled because your stud prospect gets a boo-boo, but the Nationals seemed to forget that in the four games afterward, getting outscored 24-5 and looking about as qualified to play professional baseball as I am.

Photo by Cordileran.The Nationals delivered some crushing news this morning via a conference call: phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg will “probably” need Tommy John surgery on his injured pitching arm, which could put him on the shelf for up to a year, and perhaps as long as 18 months. An MRI which doctors performed on the arm yesterday discovered a “significant” tear of Strasburg’s right ulnar collateral ligament. Strasburg was apparently informed of the severity of…

Photo by philliefan99.Have yet to take the chance to get yourself to Nationals Park to catch a Stephen Strasburg pitching performance? Well, based on this report by Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman, you’ll have to wait until 2011: Regardless of the results of Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg’s second MRI, he is expected to be shut down for the season as a precaution. The Nationals have the final call on the decision, and they are believed not…

You may have heard via any one of a number of hysterical media outlets that Stephen Strasburg had to leave Saturday’s game with a strained forearm. Management is non-committal (rightfully so in the absence of MRI results) about Strasburg’s prospects for the rest of the season, but let’s just throw this out there: at this point, the only reason to send Strasburg to the hill the rest of the season is to sell tickets.

Even with the Bryce Harper drama all taken care of, the Nationals are about to be busy, busy bees. Starting tonight, the team will play games on 16 consecutive days before finally getting a day off on September 2. With the daily grind, extensive traveling (nine of the games are on the road), and manager Jim Riggleman’s love of musical chairs, let’s set the over/under for the number of different batting orders (minus the pitching spot) at 6.5. We’ll even give you a freebie on September 1st, when the roster expands to 40 players. (Note: Your prize will either be the pride that comes with being right or the humility that comes with being incorrect…your perceived equivalent monetary value may vary.)

If you normally arrive late to baseball games, the recently-completed Nationals-Marlins series was not for you. Arriving late would have meant seeing the home team either going through the motions to earn a paycheck or valiantly fighting to overcome a large deficit (depending on how full your glass is). The Nats have now lost five in a row, and you’d have to go back to Saturday’s extra-inning loss against the Dodgers to find a game in which the team even looked competitive. To date, I’ve harped about bad defense, poor clutch hitting, and a leaky bullpen. Those issues remain, but somehow, the starting pitching came out unscathed. That changes now.

Great. Way to go, Washington Post. You just had to jinx it for all us Nats fans, didn’t you? In a piece that ran yesterday titled ‘Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals: What makes him a great pitcher?’, your copy editors just couldn’t throw in one “knock on wood” or something? Re-read what your staff writer, Rachel Saslow, wrote: “The fact that Strasburg hasn’t hurt his shoulder yet bodes well for his longevity as a…

Photo by philliefan99 Morning, Washington. The Washington Post checks in on the dire case of D.C. street food, which, improved though it may be, is still far from what it ought to be in a city of this size. What explains the lag in D.C. street food? The story begins with the case of one Shemondy Haile, a hot-dog vendor who experimented with selling Eritrean food from his cart before the city struck him down….

You’ve earned the right to smile, kid. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Nationals 5, Pirates 2: The biggest sign of great things to come for Stephen Strasburg wasn’t the huge ovation he received from the 40,395 at Nationals Park last night after finally breaking 100 miles per hour on the radar gun — which he did several times. It wasn’t the dominating second inning, during which he struck out the side. Nor was it the multiple…