Detwiler was forced to leave Wednesday's start after three innings because of spasms in his lower back suffered when reaching for a throw covering first base. An MRI revealed some "irregularity," so the left-hander will miss at least one start.

Detwiler has been one of the Nats' most consistent pitchers, going 2-4 with a 2.76 ERA in eight starts.

Duke has struggled with the transition from starter to reliever, pitching to an 8.40 ERA (14 earned runs in 15 innings) in eight appearances out of the bullpen. The left-hander will be making his first start since July 10, 2011 with Arizona.

As for today's game, Bryce Harper is again out of the lineup, marking the third time he hasn't started in five games since running face-first into the right field wall at the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is not yet known why Harper isn't in the lineup.

Update: Harper is sitting out tonight because of a sore left knee, according to reports.

Without the 20-year-old, the Nats have Tyler Moore in right and Steve Lombardozzi in left.

Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound looking to extend his personal winning streak to five in a row. The right-hander is in the middle of a remarkable run in which he has pitched at least seven innings in four straight starts and in six of his last seven.

For the Nats
CF Denard Span
LF Steve Lombardozzi
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Ian Desmond
RF Tyler Moore
2B Danny Espinosa
C Kurt Suzuki
RHP Jordan Zimmermann

For the Padres
SS Everth Cabrera
RF Will Venable
3B Chase Headley
1B Yonder Alonso
LF Mark Kotsay
2B Jedd Gyorko
CF Chris Denorfia
C John Baker
LHP Eric Stults

As Cobb wrote in his biography co-written with Al Stump, he and his Tigers teammates looked forward to facing Johnson. "Manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of the Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us," Cobb recalled. Then Johnson took the mound. "The first time I faced him," Cobb recalled, "I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him. ... Every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park."

The first three seasons of his career weren't easy ones for the sidearming right-hander or the Senators, who lost a combined 199 games. Johnson, however, posted impressive numbers with a combined 1.94 ERA and 395 strikeouts (5.36 K/9) in 663 innings. Health issues slowed Johnson at the start, however, with an ear infection delaying the beginning of his 1908 season and "severe cold" doing the same in 1909. As Johnson's Baseball-Reference.com bio notes, Cantillon, the Senators' skipper, pitched him on short rest repeatedly leading to "a sore arm that kept him out of the lineup for three weeks and scared Cantillon into using giving him more rest for the remainder of the season."

Back at full strength in 1910, Johnson dominated the American League, posting a 25-1 record with a 1.36 ERA in an AL-leading 370 innings, over which he threw an league-leading 38 complete games with an AL-best 313 Ks and 7.9 K/9. Johnson went on to have a Hall of Fame-worthy career, pitching for 21 seasons and leading the Senators to their one and only World Series win in 1924.

One hundred years after Johnson entered the majors, another southern California-based right-hander burst onto the national baseball scene with a dominant strikeout-filled performance spread via a YouTube video, in which San Diego State University starter Stephen Strasburg "struck out 23 batters in (a) win over Utah on April 11, tying for the third-most ever in a college game and the most since the 1981 season." That start, Strasburg's SDSU bio notes, "marked the second of six consecutive starts in which he reached double figures in strikeouts." Over those starts, Strasburg, "allowed only two runs (one earned) over 55 innings (from March 20 to May 8)."

In 2009, the year he would eventually be drafted with the No. 1 overall pick, Strasburg was 13-1 in 15 starts with a 1.32 ERA and 195 Ks (16.10 K/9) in 109 innings. Strasburg signed late that summer, so his professional career didn't begin until the next spring. His first start against big league competition came against the Detroit Tigers. ESPN.com's Jayson Stark quoted Tigers' slugger Miguel Cabrera in an article that March, describing the experience of facing Strasburg for the first time. "What you read about, it's true," Cabrera told Stark, "It's real. He's the kind of pitcher you don't see every day. When he throws the ball,it's like an explosion."

The Nationals' top pitching prospect started his first pro season in the minors but was called up to make his major league debut in June 2010. Strasburg struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates in an electric performance in the nation's capital that announced his arrival on the national baseball scene in a dazzling display of power and control. Even then, however, he had a good idea of how he wanted to eventually pitch at the major league level, and it wasn't all about racking up strikeouts.

"I just want to go out there and execute the majority of my pitches out there the way I can," Strasburg said, "and the strikeouts are more of an accident than anything. You want to go up there pitching to contact, wanting them to put the ball in play, and it happens some games, but not all the games are going to be like this."

Strasburg wasn't overworked and taxed like Johnson had been early in his career, but a shoulder issue cropped up that summer, causing the Nationals' right-hander to miss a start. Later in his first season, disaster struck: a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Tommy John surgery, a lost 2011 campaign and a 2012 season in which he was on an innings limit followed. Strasburg is back at full strength now, and though he's struggled to find himself on the mound early this season, last night he turned things around and put together one of his strongest performances as a starter at the major league level.

Strasburg struck out just four batters. He induced 13 groundballs outs and went eight innings for the first time in the majors on 117 pitches.
Like Johnson early in his career, Strasburg is just starting to figure things out. Fans in the nation's capital can only hope something like the career Johnson put together lies ahead for this century's D.C.-based ace.

Patrick Reddington blogs about the Nationals for Federal Baseball and appears here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.

But there's new news, courtesy of this story in The News-Press of Fort Myers, one of the possible Sunshine State destinations for the Nationals. (a tip of the 'ol ballcap to @misschatter for the link).

And for now, it appears as if Fort Myers has been supplanted on the Nats' list of potential suitors.

Let's recap for those new to this curious tale, which may be nearing a conclusion (assuming this latest news isn't just another red herring tossed into the process).

The Nationals have trained in Viera at Space Coast Stadium since 2003, when they were the Montreal Expos. The facility is functional and the community welcoming, but the exodus of teams from Grapefruit League camps on Florida's east coast has created an issue for the Nats. Their shortest road trip is an hour, to reach the Astros in Kissimmee in Florida's interior. There are only three other teams remaining on the east coast - the Mets in Port St. Lucie and the Cardinals and Marlins in Jupiter, which means either the Nats play an inordinate number of spring training games against those teams (and deal with long bus rides) or they schedule other, further-away opponents (with even longer bus rides).

For several years, Nationals managing principal owner Mark Lerner has been trying to solve this dilemma by finding a new spring training home for his team. There have been rumors of a shared complex with the Mets in Port St. Lucie or the Astros in Kissimmee. There have been rumblings that the Nationals would move to Arizona.

Fort Myers has been a much-mentioned destination because that town has an empty ballpark and two other major league clubs, the Red Sox and Twins. This much is known: Lerner wants to move somewhere closer to more teams to cut down on travel and he'd prefer the Nationals get a new ballpark out of the deal.

Over the winter, it appeared that Fort Myers would finally come to fruition - until Lee County figured it didn't have enough money after building the Red Sox their new Jet Blue Park and committing millions to renovate Hammond Stadium for the Twins. So City of Palms Park, the former Red Sox spring HQ, remains empty.

Officials in Brevard County hoped monies recently approved by the Florida legislature to help communities maintain spring training operations might be the solution. They've even talked about underwriting the cost of flying the Nationals to other Grapefruit League sites, as a solution to the miles they log on buses each spring.

Now come reports that the Nationals are in talks with an unnamed Florida jurisdiction willing to build a new complex for them. How will this mystery city foot the bill? By using the same funds Florida legislators made available - because they can either use them to retain a team or prevent an existing team from bailing from Florida for Arizona's deserts and low humidity. That money would be combined with county tourism tax dollars to make the Nationals' hopes a reality.

At the same time, the Nats would bid adieu to Viera, and officials there seem resigned to the fact that the Curly W could be a memory after 2015. The Nationals' lease to play at Space Coast Stadium runs until 2017, but the team can escape the lease without penalty because it's already paid off more than $7 million in construction bonds. (I've always thought the Cartoon Network whiffed on a great naming rights deal and could have renamed the park Space Ghost Stadium, but that may be a moot point).

So who's the mystery city?

It could be Kissimmee. The Astros' lease on Osceola County Stadium ends in 2016 and a new facility could be built to house both the Nats and Astros. The Astros could want to move to Arizona, closer to their Houston home, and that could open up Kissimmee for the Nationals as a sole occupant. Because of its proximity to Disney World, Osceola County generates more tourist tax revenue, which could tilt the balance Kissimmee's way.

Maybe Naples, which has had dalliances with several different teams, is a possibility. Perhaps Fort Myers remains a player, if a new stadium could replace City of Palms Park (even if the Nats have to train briefly at City of Palms before a new park is constructed), though that's a long shot. But the presence of these state-supplied funds basically means one Florida city can meet the Nationals' needs at the expense of the city they've called their spring training home.

Whatever the Nationals do will likely change the face of the Grapefruit League. The Mets, Cardinals and Marlins have out clauses in their leases that are triggered if fewer than four teams train on the east coast. The Nats' departure would leave three teams there, and those squads could be jockeying for new homes (or more team-friendly deals) while other cities try to entice them.

The Nationals aren't saying anything. In spring training, a team spokesman said there would be no comment on future spring training sites - at least until there was something other than rumors and speculation to comment on. Lerner has been necessarily quiet because silence allows him to play various cities and jurisdictions against one another to allow him to extract the best deal. It may seem like hardline politics, but it's just a shrewd negotiation tactic calculated to the maximum benefit of the Nationals.

The Nats will make plenty more mistakes and have their share of successes over the next few months, as the ups and downs of the long season take their toll. They will be ultimately measured, though, by how they handle those situations, as Rudyard Kipling wrote, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same ..."

Marty Niland blogs about the Nationals for D.C. Baseball History. His thoughts on the Nationals will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.

"I like our depth," Rizzo said. "We've got another wave of prospects coming, that I think will at least equal and possibly surpass the package of guys that we've given up in this trade. With the (Matt) Purkes and the (Sammy) Solises and the (Alex) Meyers of the world. Then we also have a wave behind them of the (Robbie) Rays and the (Paul) Demnys and those type of guys behind them. So we feel that we're set up very, very well for the long haul."

Meyer, the Nats' second first-round pick in 2011, was traded to the Minnesota Twins this past winter in the deal that brought Denard Span to the nation's capital. Rizzo then traded Michael Morse to the Seattle Mariners in a three-team deal with Oakland that brought Cole back along with right-hander Blake Treinen and a player to be named, who turned out to be 22-year-old left-hander Ian Krol.

In spite of Cole's struggles in his one year in the Athletics system, Rizzo was happy to bring the 21-year-old Nats 2004 10th-round back to the organization. "He's a big, strong man now," the general manager said, "and couple that with another couple of pieces that we got in the trade and we feel very fortunate to get the package that we did for one year of control of Michael Morse." Cole was named the Carolina League's Pitcher of the Week last week after his best start of the year for the advanced Single-A Potomac Nationals.

When a listener asked the Nationals' 52-year-old GM about the return Washington got in the Morse deal on 106.7 The Fan in D.C. this week, Rizzo reiterated that he liked the prospects the Nats got back from the A's in the three-team trade.

"We got three power arms for (Morse) that are going to help us in the near-future," the fifth-year general manager explained. Treinen is in Double-A throwing extremely well, up to 97-98 mph. A.J. Cole is really starting to take the next step. He'll end up in Double-A this year. Treinen will end up in Triple-A and Ian Krol is a reliever in Double-A at (22)-years-old, who is a power lefty who has, I think he's got a (1.10) ERA in Double-A."

Krol and Paul Demny, the 23-year-old right-handed 2008 sixth-round pick Rizzo mentioned as part of the next wave of pitchers in the organization, combined for a no-hitter with the Double-A Senators Thursday night on the road against the Binghamton Mets. Demny threw eight innings in which he allowed one unearned run but no hits and Krol lowered his ERA with a scoreless ninth to complete the fourth no-hitter in Harrisburg franchise history.

In addition to the likes of Demny, Krol, Nate Karns and Treinen, who are already pitching at Double-A, the Senators just got a new pitcher Thursday when 24-year-old 2009 ninth-round pick Taylor Jordan was promoted to Harrisburg from Potomac after posting a 1.24 ERA in his first six starts with the P-Nats. Though Taylor's a lesser-known prospect, some people in the Nationals' organization are high on the right-hander.

With the addition of Taylor, the Nationals have a lot of talented pitchers, members of that next wave, gathering at Double-A right now with one or two possibilities pitching for the team's top affiliate. Plus, 25-year-old Danny Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Erik Davis are off to strong starts with Triple-A Syracuse. Three of the Nationals' top-ranked pitchers, according to Baseball America, have yet to throw a competitive pitch this year, though left-handers Solis, 24, and Purke, 22, and 2012 first-round pick Lucas Giolito, 18, are all expected to be back on the mound in the system at some point this summer after undergoing surgical procedures last year.

The Nats may lack major league-ready depth beyond the top six, seven or eight arms at the top of the organization right now, but that next wave is coming. At the same time, they're bringing along younger arms that can replace those they trade or promote. It's a system that can sustain itself and keep the organization flush with talent for years to come. And it's a huge improvement over what Rizzo inherited when he took over as GM back in 2009.

Patrick Reddington blogs about the Nationals for Federal Baseball and appears here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.

I'm at the ballpark often enough, catching games and writing them up for We Love DC, but I do that because it's a treasured hobby of mine and I often forget that other folks close to me don't go to the 30-plus games I do per season. A friend of mine recently pinged me for advice about where to sit in the ballpark and that got me thinking about, if given the choice, where I would pick to sit in Nats Park and why

Here are a few of my favorite options:

Next to the Nats bullpen: This has to be my favorite place to sit, if only for the fact that it's a blast during batting practice. Get to the ballpark early enough and you're bound to catch a fly ball hit off the bat of a major leaguer. Right down the right field line, you've got a great view and you can watch the Nats pitching staff prepare to enter the game as manager Davey Johnson calls up the 'pen.

Behind the visitors' dugout: I've never been big on heckling and prefer to watch the game, but it's always cool to see ballplayers from other teams, big-name guys who continue to set records in the sport and create historic milestones as their ballclubs come through town. This is really the closest you can get to baseball's most talented player who wear a uniform for a team outside of D.C. besides sitting in left field by the visitors' bullpen, so that's a perk in and of itself for any fan of the game.

Right below the press box: Ah, the view from above. It doesn't get much better. You're seated nearly as high as one can go in Nats Park, just below the press box staring straight out from home plate and beyond to the outfield and scoreboard. It's a clean view where you can sneak a peek at the Capitol dome at the right spot. If you like staring out into the sweet horizon that is Nationals Park, then that's the place to park yourself for the night.

Near the Scoreboard Walk: For the complete opposite vantage point of sitting below the press box, sitting in the seats near the Scoreboard Walk allows the opportunity of watching the action as it flies at you from the bats of the players. Whether it's a home run, pop fly, lineout or putout, the action comes at you from home plate, across the diamond and into the outfield sky for your viewing pleasure.

Rachel Levitin blogs about the Nationals for We Love DC, and will be sharing her observations about baseball in the nation's capital as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.

They aren't easy concepts to understand until you see players not doing it. Up until the recent 7-4 run, the Nats weren't doing any of these things and were quite a frustrating team to watch. In baseball, approach is much more important than results and many Nats players had poor approaches at the plate or on the mound.

Too many times would a Nats hitter find himself in a 1-0 count and swinging awkwardly at a pitch obviously out of the zone. The Nats were taking themselves out of at-bats and putting the pitcher back in control. Some of the Nats hitters seemed overly concerned with striking out and were swinging and making contact with pitchers' pitches early in the count, grounding out meekly. It was all very frustrating to watch, but the most infuriating Nat to watch has been Stephen Strasburg.

This isn't because his results have been bad. A 3.45 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 1.0 HR/9 are all good and mostly in line with his career numbers. The issue is how he has reached those numbers, and watching him knowing he has been so much better. Part of it was a mechanical issue. During his four-walk game against the Atlanta Braves, Strasburg was stepping between first and home on some of his fastballs and these were the ones missing wildly.

The big issue with Strasburg isn't the moderate reduction in strikeouts. It is that he isn't getting into strikeout counts. In 2013, Strasburg has had two strikes on a batter 52.7 percent of the time. This is down from 57.6 percent in 2012. By the rules of baseball, it is impossible to strike a batter out without first having two strikes against him. Up until the game against the Pirates, Strasburg wasn't attacking the zone, and most of that was due to inconsistent fastball command.

Looking at the game against the Pirates, Strasburg had a much better approach. Twenty-three of the 28 plate appearances against Strasburg ended with him ahead in the count and he went to an 0-2 count six times. Of the two home runs Strasburg gave up, one was an ambush job by Starlin Marte, a player having a breakout season, and a 1-0 fastball to Clint Barmes. The one to Barmes is more troubling, but when a pitcher throws in the mid- to high-90s, all a batter has to do is get the barrel on the ball and it will go. Strasburg has given up homers in his career to the likes of Delwyn Young, Kevin Frandsen, and James Darnell for this very reason.

Put the results aside and focus on the approach. Strasburg may have given up the second-most earned runs he has all season, but he attacked the strike zone, got ahead of batters, and got them out on his terms instead of falling behind, walking guys, and getting into too many hitters' counts. Strasburg is not an effectively wild-stuff pitcher. It is his stuff combined with command that makes him the ace that he is, and up until the Pirates game, that command was missing.

In 159 1/3 innings pitched in 2012, Strasburg went to a 3-0 count 18 times. So far in 2013, he has done so 10 times. If Strasburg pitches like he did against the Pirates on Saturday and not how he has in his other starts, then the results will come and he will once again be the dominant pitcher everyone enjoys watching. All he has to do is stay within himself, don't try and do too much, and let the game come to him.

David Huzzard blogs about the Nationals for Citizens of Natstown, and offers his viewpoints as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.