Not football, but what a shock!

[Patler]

It sucks that he will have to miss next season but his career is no where close to being over.

I heard today that 9 pitchers in this years All-Star game have had Tommy Johns surgery so I have faith he'll come back strong.

I don't think anyone suggested his career is over. Heck, Chris Capuano has had the surgery twice. But it sure ruins a nice start to his career, and robs the Nationals of their biggest story and biggest draw.

[MichiganPackerFan]

It sucks that he will have to miss next season but his career is no where close to being over.

I heard today that 9 pitchers in this years All-Star game have had Tommy Johns surgery so I have faith he'll come back strong.

I don't think anyone suggested his career is over. Heck, Chris Capuano has had the surgery twice. But it sure ruins a nice start to his career, and robs the Nationals of their biggest story and biggest draw.

They've only been in DC for 5 years. They sold out his first couple of games, but I think it takes a while to build up a fan following, especially with the Capitals and Skins here. A couple years of being somewhat competitive would do wonders. Its a decent stadium with good metro access.

[bobblehead]

He'll come back strong. Tommy Johns is a lot different than a shoulder surgery. It sucks because the recovery time is so long (18 months) but these guys typically come back stronger and better than ever. Unfortunate to hear this from a baseball perspective... the Nats were excited about their young club.

Tim Hudson is in his first full year back from TJS and he's putting up near-Cy Young numbers (way better than pre-injury). The Braves were 15-1 in games when rookie Chris Medlen started before he got the exact same injury as Strasburg a few weeks ago. He'll be back, plus we got to see Mike Minor come up and strikeout 12 looking like Tommy Glavine.

Tough news, but the kid should still be scary good and there was nothing the Nationals did to bring this on him. The exact opposite.

What you said. Shoulder injuries are disastorous. Chris Young, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Brandon Webb, and I could go on for a page.

Elbow is very different. I can do the same thing the other way with guys who bounced back. Tim Hudson, Shawn Marcum, Jordan Zimmerman, Edison Volquez, CJ Wilson, and I could go on just as long.

The kid will come back and be right up there with Clemens and Ryan as the greatest pitchers I have seen in my lifetime.

[Joemailman]

And another death blow is dealt to the announcing career of Rob Dibble. He thought Strasburg needed to learn to pitch through pain.

Its no wonder Dibble is still having surgeries on his elbow and shoulder.

What Dibble said:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/101731733.html

Former major-league pitcher and now broadcaster Rob Dibble booked himself into the presidential suite at the Missing the Mark Hotel last week. He had an entire floor to himself.

Dibble is the analyst for Washington Nationals games on Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and he has a baseball talk show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

On his radio show, Dibble questioned the toughness of Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg after the rookie complained his arm was hurting during a game he pitched against the Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 21.

"OK, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer?" Dibble said. "Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow."

Dibble said Strasburg should "stop crying, go out there and pitch, period" and that Strasburg needs "to know the difference between pain and injury."

On Friday, the Nationals announced that Strasburg had a torn ligament in his right elbow that will require Tommy John surgery and could be sidelined for up to 18 months.

Nationals officials were not pleased by Dr. Dibble's initial diagnosis.

Dibble (who pitched for the Brewers in 1995) did not work the telecasts of a few Nationals games.

The president of the Nationals, Stan Kasten, told the Washington Post: "Rob asked for some time off. Perhaps he's not feeling well. But I'm not a doctor, nor have I seen his records. So I shouldn't say anything more about it."

[MJZiggy]

It sucks that he will have to miss next season but his career is no where close to being over.

I heard today that 9 pitchers in this years All-Star game have had Tommy Johns surgery so I have faith he'll come back strong.

I don't think anyone suggested his career is over. Heck, Chris Capuano has had the surgery twice. But it sure ruins a nice start to his career, and robs the Nationals of their biggest story and biggest draw.

They've only been in DC for 5 years. They sold out his first couple of games, but I think it takes a while to build up a fan following, especially with the Capitals and Skins here. A couple years of being somewhat competitive would do wonders. Its a decent stadium with good metro access.

Those first couple games were the first the Nats ever sold out. They didn't even sell out with the "new team hype." We're too close to the Os and folks here have been following the Os for too long to just abandon them for the Nats. Strasburg is their best chance to do some of that.