Stephen Strasburg

Stephen Strasburg left Sunday’s win against the Orioles after five innings due to biceps tightness.

Nationals manager Davey Johnson didn’t appear concerned about the injury and said Strasburg should make his next start. Because of the phenom’s injury history, Washington understandably used caution when Strasburg mentioned arm fatigue. “The bicep is fine,” Strasburg said. “Starting out, I threw a lot of pitches early and then we put up a lot of runs. I got a little tired. [The bicep] got a little tight. It’s nothing different than any other outing. It’s probably gonna be like this for the rest of the year. It’s all part of coming back from Tommy John [surgery]. It’s something I have to be smart about.” Strasburg held Baltimore to three runs — one earned — and struck out eight while hitting his first career home run.

Stephen Strasburg held the Orioles to three runs (one earned) in five innings of Sunday’s 9-3 win, striking out eight and hitting his first career home run in the process.

Strasburg settled down after allowing three runs in his first two innings of work. Curiously, he was pulled after throwing only 91 pitches. He finished his day at the plate 2-for-2 with two runs scored, bringing his season average to .375. He’ll bring a 2.21 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and sparkling 64/13 K/BB ratio into his weekend start in Atlanta.

Stephen Stasburg was bothered by stray Hot Stuff in his groin during Tuesday’s loss to the Padres.

Hot Stuff is an analgesic ointment like Icy-Hot that is often used as a muscle-loosener. But it can cause quite a bit of pain when applied to … more sensitive skin. “I can?t really tell you what the problem was, but some Hot Stuff got misplaced,” manager Davey Johnson said. “It was on his shoulder and evidently ? I don?t know how it got to where it got, but it was uncomfortable, to say the least.” Strasburg allowed four runs in four innings.

Stephen Strasburg took his first loss of the year on Tuesday after giving up four runs in four innings against the Padres.

Three of the runs came in the first. Strasburg was better after that, but he was still far short of dominant, and rather than waste those bullets, manager Davey Johnson opted to pull him after 81 pitches. Strasburg is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA for the season.

Stephen Strasburg delivered another very strong performance on Thursday, striking out 13 and limiting the Pirates to just two runs (one earned) on five hits over his six innings of work.

The only downside to racking up so many strikeouts, is that Strasburg’s pitch count reached 103 through six innings. He walked three in the game to go along with the punch outs. With the victory, he improves to 3-0 on the season and lowers his ERA to 1.64. Even more impressive than that, may be his unthinkable 51/10 strikeout to walk ratio through his first 44 innings. He’ll look to continue his dominance of the National League when he takes on the Padres next week.

Stephen Strasburg wasn?t quite his normal dominating self against the Phillies on Friday, but still a decent night only allowing three runs on three hits over his six innings of work.

Strasburg struck out four and walked one in the game. He had only thrown 76 pitches through six innings, but was lifted in favor of pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina. He gave up his first two home runs of the season, as Hunter Pence and Carlos Ruiz took him deep in the game. He remains at 2-0 and his ERA balloons up to 1.66. He’s already one of the elite starters in the game, and will look to get back to his winning ways when he squares off against the Pirates in Pittsburgh next week.

Stephen Strasburg tossed seven innings of one-run ball Saturday in a no-decision against the Dodgers.

Strasburg was on point, yielding only five hits while striking out nine batters. But Nationals setup man Henry Rodriguez struggled with his command in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Dodgers eventually won it in the 10th. Strasburg is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 34/6 K/BB ratio in 32 innings this season.

Stephen Strasburg was brilliant again Saturday against the Marlins, tossing six shutout innings as part of a no-decision.

Strasburg allowed only four hits while striking out six and walking only one. He was pulled after throwing 60 out of 94 pitches for strikes. Unfortunately for Strasburg owners, Brad Lidge blew his chance at a win by giving up a game-tying two-run homer to Logan Morrison in the ninth. Strasburg now has a fantastic 1.08 ERA and 25/6 K/BB ratio in 25 innings over his first four starts this season. While he has yet to pitch more than seven innings in a start this season, he’s a bona fide fantasy ace.

Stephen Strasburg thinks he might have been tipping his pitches during Monday’s start against the Astros.

Strasburg thinks it happened when runners were on second base, which only happened twice. “Just the way they were kind of checking on some pitches and stuff,” Strasburg said. “Typically, kind of the hitter does something a little different on some pitches, and when they know it’s coming, they obviously look very comfortable in there.” The righty allowed just two runs over six innings, so it didn’t hurt him too badly if it did happen. For what it’s worth, Astros center field Jordan Schafer said he “didn?t pick up anything,” but admitted that even if he did, “I?m not going to tell you.”