ABCDE D SPORTS saturday, august 28, 2010 PROBASKETBALL


Mystics are drummed out by Dream Washington is swept from WNBA playoffs with a 101-77 loss in Atlanta. D3


Strasburg faces Tommy John surgery PROBASKETBALL


USA’s quiet force Kevin Durant is the reluctant face of the national team. D2


SOCCER


Freedom unites Team overcomes turmoil and gets into playoff race. D2


REDSKINS16,JETS11 BASEBALL


Nats fall to Cards Late rally can’t erase missed chances in 4-2 defeat. D5


NICK WASS/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Stephen Strasburg bids adieu toNationalsManager Jim Riggleman and to his heralded rookie season after announcing he will need elbow surgery.He is expected to miss 12 to 18 months. Story, A1


K


EZ SU


THOMAS BOSWELL


of Strasburg will return?


E


verybody wants a reason. Everybody wants someone or something to


blame. Everybody wants to know how to feel. And everybody wants to know what Stephen Strasburg’s future will be.


Sorry, just like Strasburg’s


right elbow, we’re all out of luck. It’s bad enough that the best pitching prospect inmany years is gone for at least 12 months after only 12major league starts. But it’s even more galling that absolutely nobody can give you an exact reason or a particular culprit or a proper emotional reaction. And nobody can do better


than give you rough odds on what kind of pitcher Strasburg will be by opening day of 2012. This rehab game, dramatic


and vital to the Nats and Strasburg as it will be, has no daily scoreboard. As the months pass, we won’t even know exactly what inning we’re in. But, unlike almost any other injury recovery in sports, the stakes in Tommy John surgery are incredibly high because all outcomes— including a “new elbow” and a better pitching career—are actually possible. There’s at least a 10 percent


chance that Strasburg will come back better than he’s ever been. He’ll have a tendon that’s wound several times, in a figure-eight pattern, between holes that will be drilled in bones in his upper and lower arm. If the body accepts the tendon, it’s actually thicker


boswell continued on D7 It’s not all bad


What kind


MIKE WISE


Bad news that travels 103 mph


S


eeing Stephen Strasburg on the dais Friday, sans goatee and uniform,


orange flat-top, telling us he is ready tomove on and start rehab right after Tommy John surgery, was seeing himfor what he still is: a kid in a bit of denial, too young, headstrong and socially awkward to let his guard down and actually tell us how shell-shocked and disappointed he is. Yes, 10 pitchers at the 2010


All-Star Game had undergone Tommy John surgery. Yes, one in ninemajor league pitchers has had the surgery and returned since 2008. But for at least 24 hours, it’s okay to mourn the combustion of a supernova’s season—and the brief spike in interest and attendance for a club that once tried to pawn off its new ballpark as its No. 1 free agent. That’s all done now, at least


until possibly 2012. Stephen Strasburg very well


might emerge fromthis okay, but that doesn’tmean Friday was anything but crushing. It’s natural to feel


disappointment today because Strasburg didn’t just bring credibility to a starved-for- attention D.C. sports scene; he brought the rare good news amid otherWashington sports stories that led “SportsCenter.” “Haynesworth a No-Show” and “Arenas Sentenced on Gun Charge” were suddenly superseded by thismythical fireballer fromSan Diego, whose 103-mph fastballs were a blur and whose change-ups made good hitters buckle and


wise continued on D6


Tommy John surgery has become fairly common for major league pitchers, and many have even pitched better after the surgery than they did before. These starters were as good as new after having the operation.


Josh Johnson,Marlins W-L


Before (2005-07) ERA G CG IP H SO 12-10 3.50 39 0 185 173 157


Chris Carpenter, Cardinals W-L


Before (1997-07)


BB 90


After (2008-present) 33-11 2.98 73 4 468 419 434 127 ERA G CG IP After (2008-present) 31-9 2.55 60 3 3981/3


A.J. Burnett, Yankees W-L


H SO BB


100-69 4.10 246 25 1522 1560 1164 464 343 295


94 ERA G CG IP


Before (1999-2003) 30-32 3.86 82 9 5242/3 After (2004-present) 79-64 3.95 191 12 12062/3


H SO BB


433 442 260 1117 1141 465


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST 6 ALLMETSPORTS.COM


Follow the action all season with school and player pages for every football, soccer, field


hockey and volleyball team in the area. You’ll find rosters, leaders , game pages and more.


TONI L. SANDYS/WASHINGTON POST Larry Johnson celebrates the winning touchdown, but the Redskins were more impressed with an overall better effort than last week.


A step in the right direction T


Much to learn as regular season nears


east rutherford, n.j.


here was a team somewhere in all of that writhing on the field at


theNewMeadowlands Stadium, but what sort was hard to tell. TheWashington Redskins flip-flopped around, one minute looking like they had some potential, and the next provoking an “uh-oh.” By the end of that interminable, esoteric exercise called a preseason victory over the NewYork Jets, there was still an awful lot we didn’t know about the Redskins, and that’s not reassuring.


SALLY JENKINS We know that backup


quarterback Rex Grossman can make the downfield throw —but we also know he can make a lame-brain play, fumbling the snap in the shotgun and then kicking the


redskins continued on D4 BY JASON REID


east rutherford, n.j. — The Redskins did not appear overmatched after all against theNewYork Jets Friday night, and defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth got an extended workout in a 16-11 victory that seemed to bring the team into better focus with only one pre- season game remaining. In front of a crowd of 50,508


atNewMeadowlandsStadium, the Redskins, playing without injured quarterback Donovan McNabb, used three field goals


from place kicker Graham Gano to take a 9-5 lead into the fourth quarter. They fell be- hind, 11-9, but rallied late be- hind Larry Johnson and third- strong quarterback Richard Bartel. The Redskins took the lead


with 2 minutes 13 seconds re- maining in the fourth quarter on Bartel’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Johnson, who is bat- tling Willie Parker to win the job as primary backup to Clinton Portis. The Redskins


redskins continued on D4


Randolph debuts Coolidge’s coach is in the spotlight, but Carroll wins, 28-0. D8


Against the Jets, starters hold their own, Haynesworth impresses and Redskins rally


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