ABCDE SPORTS sunday, august 22, 2010 SWIMMING
Training daze Michael Phelps is working out less. It shows. D2
TENNIS
Blows to U.S Open Defending men’s champ joins Serena Williams in withdrawing. D3
RAVENS23,REDSKINS3 Redskins take a beating SOCCER
D.C.’s record lows United is threatening league mark for fewest goals in a season. D3
COLLEGEFOOTBALL
Alabama is No. 1 Crimson Tide tops AP preseason poll; Virginia Tech is 10th. D6
Strasburg Injured, but Nats win, 8-1
Pitcher leaves in fifth with forearm injury, will get MRI today
BY GENEWANG AND DAVE SHEININ
philadelphia — It all was hum- ming along forWashingtonNationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. He had worked into the fifth inning, allowing just a run to a potent Philadelphia lineup that welcomed back slugger Ryan Howard from the disabled list. Then with one pitch, Strasburg’s night ended, leaving in doubt the hard-throwing rookie’s status for his next start and perhaps beyond. FacingDomonicBrown, Strasburg
delivered a change-up, his third pitch to the batter, and winced after his follow-through. He shook his right hand in distress several times before teammates, a trainer, Manager Jim Riggleman and pitching coach Steve McCatty approached him on the mound. After a brief exchange there, Rig-
gleman pulled Strasburg, who ap- peared to be trying to persuade his manager to leave him in the game. Riggleman wasn’t about to budge, and Strasburg exited the 8-1 win before 45,266 at Citizens Bank Park after 4 1/3
innings and 56 pitches,
yielding two hits and no walks with six strikeouts. Nationals General Manager Mike
Rizzo said after the game that Stras- burg’s injury was in the flexor tendon of his right forearm and that the pitcher would undergo an MRI exam Sunday. Strasburg’s early departure came
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST Redskins running back Larry Johnson, who was mostly ineffective in his “showcase” game, is buried by a flock of Ravens, led by rookie defensive tackle Terrence Cody.
SEVERALKEY PLAYERS INJURED First-team offense shaky against stout Baltimore defense
MIKE WISE Progress amid the preseason rubble
can get back to the Super Bowl for the first time in a decade, many signs of progress keep emerging for the Redskins. l DonovanMcNabb going deep
A
repeatedly, hooking up with Chris Cooley and SantanaMoss often enough to think the quarterback has already found his favorite targets, the kind of safety valve that BrianWestbrook used to be forMcNabb in Philadelphia. l LaRon Landry, the muscular
safety known as “Dirty 30,” dislodging the ball from a Ravens receiver, just happy to put a hurt on someone.
gainst a much more formidable foe, against yet another Ray Lewis-led team that believes it
l A swarming defense completely
fooled only once – on a fake punt. Whether the signals London Fletcher are calling have been fully understood before each snap is unclear. But for mid- August, the woofing and desire are in mid-season form. l Clinton Portis is unquestionably
your opening night starter against Dallas. Larry Johnson still runs hard, but C.P. runs harder and blocks better. WhateverMike Shanahan said about getting his butt in shape and dropping pounds – that he needed to stay in Ashburn for a good chunk of the offseason – worked. It’s as if Portis knew
wise continued on D7 BY JASON REID Although an impressive preseason
opener stirred excitement among Red- skins fans, CoachMike Shanahan stayed on message. Washington still is a team in transi-
tion despiteameaninglessblowoutvicto- ry, Shanahan says, and it seemed he was on to something after the first-team offense performed poorly Saturday night in a 23-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at FedEx Field. An announced crowd of 72,944
watched as quarterback Donovan Mc- Nabb and the rest of the offensive start- ers struggled throughout a sloppy first- half performance against the Ravens’ top defensive players. The Ravens pounded McNabb as the Redskins’ pass protection was far less effective than it was in a 42-17 rout of the Buffalo Bills at FedEx eight days ago.
And in a development potentially
even more disturbing to Shanahan than the displayonoffense, severalkey players left in the first half because of injuries. Fullback Mike Sellers injured his left knee early in the second quarter and free safety KareemMoore, the star of training camp, went out with a right knee injury several minutes later. Rookie left tackle Trent Williams bruised his right elbow. McNabb, who returned to the field
after halftime with his ankle wrapped in ice, completed only 11 of 26 passes and had a passer rating of 54.3. The Pro Bowler passed for 206 yards, but threw an interception and the Redskins failed to convert on their final five third-down attempts of the half. The Ravens led at halftime, 13-3. “I felt great, I felt great,”McNabb said
in an on-field interview with Comcast redskins continued on D8
in his third start since the club placed him on the disabled list on July 29 with inflammation in his right shoul- der. Strasburg, 22, was scheduled to start a game on July 27, but he experienced discomfort in the shoul- der while trying to loosen up shortly before the scheduled first pitch. Tak-
nationals continued on D5 D EZ SU
H. RUMPH JR/AP
Rookie Stephen Strasburg had six strikeouts before leaving in the fifth inning with a right forearm injury.
‘Sky’s the limit’ for McCarthy on links
Georgetown Prep golfer puts together outstanding summer, takes his game to U.S. Amateur BY JOSH BARR
D MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST
“There is a certain swagger, just something different I see about him,” former DeMatha coach Ben Spotts said ofGeorgetown Prep’s DennyMcCarthy, above.
uring a recent practice round, DennyMcCarthy made birdie on nine of the holes he played. He nearly had his first career hole-in-one, when his nine-
iron hit the pin on the fly. But the only timeMcCarthy got excit-
ed to see where his shot was headed was when he bombed his drive through the fairway and behind a line of trees, which required the three-time All-Met from Georgetown Prep to play like a regular hack. “I’ve got this shot,” McCarthy said
confidently. He thenpunchedhis ball back into the
fairway, chipped to within 15 feet and rolled in the par putt. It was a rare occasion that McCarthy
found trouble on the golf course this summer.The17-year-old has put together one of the finest seasons ever for a Washington-area junior golfer. Monday morning, he will tee off in the 110th U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay inUniversity Place,Wash. “I feel he has accomplished more than
anyone else has coming through,” said former DeMatha golf coach Ben Spotts, who still follows local junior golf. “He looks like a pro — his mannerisms, his approach to the game. There is a certain swagger, just something different I see about him from the other kids.”
McCarthy, the All-Met Player of the
Year last spring, won the Maryland Junior Open and theMaryland Open.He advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. JuniorAmateur Championship, losing in a sudden-death playoff. Then he won the Junior PGA Championship, earning a berth on the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team that will play next month in Scotland. He followed that by shooting a stag-
gering 63-65–128 to finish 14 under par and easily place first in the Williamson Cup, a junior team tournament in Essex, Ontario. McCarthy birdied 16 of the event’s 36 holes. And that practice round with the par
mccarthy continued on D6
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