While it remains unlikely that Washington will promote P Stephen Strasburg from AAA in time to pitch at Petco Park on Saturday, you might want to keep your schedule open that day, just in case.
The ex-SDSU phenom has dominated the opposition in nine minor league starts and the consensus is that he will make one more start for the Syracuse Chiefs before being promoted by the Nationals. That would make it after the Nats pass through Strasburg's hometown of an Diego. Most of the Beltway population has claimed a ticket for June 4, the date of his presumptive debut.
But, maybe not. Strasburg went just 5 innings in his most recent start for Syracuse. The Nationals' P Scott Olsen, whose turn in the rotation comes up next on Saturday at Petco, just went on the disabled list with stiffness in his left shoulder. More roster moves are needed because C Ivan Rodriguez is also going on the DL. And, while Strasburg apparently told reporters that it didn't matter where he made his big league debut, who knows what he told the front office. My bet is that if he told team President Stan Kasten to dance, you'd see a nice pirouette in the Nationals clubhouse.
It's enough to make you go "hmmm." I doubt it will happen, but I'm keeping Saturday open, just in case.
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Here's a sign of the rise of San Diego State's basketball program and of the Mountain West as a hoops power. SDSU just announced it brought in transfer Xavier Thames from Washington State, a Pac-10 school, in order to provide depth at point guard. Not to be the point guard, but just to provide depth and some rest for incoming high school recruit LaBradford Franklin. Thames will have to wait a year, by which time DJ Gay will be an alumnus and Franklin should, barring a calamity, be an entrenched starter. My, how times of changed.
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Former Aztec Jene Morris scored her first two threes and collected 12 points in a win for the WNBA's Indiana Fever on Sunday. According to the Web site Swish Appeal, the Fever's starters have been sloppy, which could mean more playing time for Morris.
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I hope you're not on pins-and-needles over conference expansion and what it might mean to the MWC and SDSU in particular. I really don't think much is going to happen, outside the MWC inviting Boise State next month -- and I'm not really sure that's such a great move in that the Broncos will prove to be a drag in all other sports. We're in kind of a dead zone for college sports since no one cares about this level of baseball until the remaining eight schools arrive in Omaha, so a lot of writers are making stuff up out of whole cloth. I'll wait and see.
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The high school baseball playoffs begin Tuesday with play-in games. The double-elimination tournament gets going Wednesday. This is something you should care about. There's almost nothing better in local sports each year. Definitely worth checking out.
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