The Nationals' losing streak hit a nice, fat round number today with a 7-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. It included all the hallmarks of ugly baseball. They walked 11 -- E-L-E-V-E-N -- batters. Ron Villone had an inning ending, 1-2-3 double play in his hands, and he threw it under Jamie Burke's glove and to the backstop. All spring long, the Nationals have maintained they don't care about the results this spring. Even as their streak drags on, that has not changed. "I don't really know what the right word is," Riggleman said. "I know I don't feel good about. Any win would be better than what we are. But I still have to keep focused on, as this is a group right now trying to become a team, the individuals in that group, we see bright spots. But, it feels terrible to lose. I don't care what

I'll provide periodic updates. ... (This is video of Stephen Strasburg's first at-bat against Skip Schumaker.) 4:07 The Nationals lost, 7-3, and dropped to 0-10 for the spring. Brian Bruney had a rocking-chair, 1-2-3 inning in the ninth, and the Nationals tacked one on. In the end, that mattered not at all. 3:28: Tyler Clippard walked five and hit a batter in 1 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and leaving the bases loaded for Ron Villone. Villone walked the first batter he faced to force in a run. The batter bounced back to Villone, who tried to start a 1-2-3 double play. His thorw home, though, bounced past Jaime Burke, and two runs scored. Just a ridiculous play. The Nationals trail, 7-2, in the eighth. 2:40: After his rocky first inning, Hernandez has calmed. He allowed a walk in the fifth and a single in the sixth, the latter erased

Just a couple pre-game notes while wondering what would bring more joy to Nationals fans than Stephen Strasburg striking out Felipe Lopez today: *The Nationals want to pin the fourth and fifth starters by about March 24. That way, those pitchers can make a couple starts after and get stretched out enough to be a starter. The take a little longer with the fifth starter, though, because off-days will allow the Nationals to not use a fifth starter until April 11. The off-days actually create an interesting scenario. The Nationals are off the day after Opening Day and then one week later as well. Manager Jim Riggleman can envision using 11 pitchers to start the season, shuffling one pitcher from the minors to the majors if need be. "It's a great option to have in you have some people who have options that you can move back and forth," Riggleman

Elijah Dukes is indeed back in the Nationals lineup today after missing yesterday with a sore toe on his left foot. Stephen Strasburg is going to pitch for a second time, and again he'll be throwing to Wil Nieves. Ivan Rodriguez has been away from the team since yesterday handling a family matter, a leave planned well in advance. He will return tomorrow. Nationals 1. Nyjer Morgan, CF 2. Adam Kennedy, 2B 3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B 4. Adam Dunn, 1B 5. Josh Willingham, LF 6. Elijah Dukes, RF 7. Mike Morse, DH 8. Wil Nieves, C 9. Alberto Gonzalez, SS -- Stephen Strasburg, SP Nationals scheduled pitchers: Livan Hernandez Ron Villone Brian Bruney Tyler Clippard Doug Slaten Jesse English Adam Wainwright will start for the Cardinals, and these regulars will face Strasburg: Yadier Molina, C Felipe Lopez, SS Skip Schumaker, 2B Colby Rasmus, OF

Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said this morning that performance, and not financial considerations will, dictate the immediate future of Nationals players and the composition of the Nationals will be made with a simple primary aim: "We're going to field the best team we can to win the most games that we can," Rizzo said. All spring, it has been assumed the Nationals will keep Stephen Strasburg out of the majors until June both for reasons pertaining to his development and the business of baseball. By keeping Strasburg in the minors until June, the Nationals would pause the clock one year for when he becomes eligible for free agency. Rizzo shot down that notion. "That has nothing to do with it," Rizzo said. "It's the development of the player, for the long-term success of him and for the franchise. Those things, when you're trying to win ballgames, they don't

Never had a chance to wrap up the Nationals loss to the Astros yesterday in Kissimmee, and here's a quick recap of what was important. The Good: The Nationals' two best players this spring, one position player and one pitcher, have been a pair 20-something who have never played on a regular basis in the major leagues. The sample size is small and he's playing against guys destined for bus rides, but what fun is spring training if you can't get excited about a player who tears apart Florida and puts up double-take stats, a player like Ian Desmond? Yesterday, Desmond went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI single. "It was important for me to stay hot like that," he said. "I saw the ball well today. I'm seeing pitches." Seeing pitches is one way to put. Destroying the Grapefruit League is another. In 21 at-bats, Desmond

Scott Olsen still plans on being ready for the first week of the regular season, which for him mattered most Saturday after his second preseason start. "My arm's still attached," Olsen said. "Nothing broke today." In the Nationals ninth consecutive loss to begin spring training, Olsen started and allowed one run on four hits and no walks in three innings. More important than the results, Olsen felt he took another step forward in his recovery from last year's shoulder surgery. His fastball zipped at 88 miles per hour, an upgrade from his first start. "I'm getting there," Olsen said. "I'm real close. I don't know how close, but I think I'm real close. Maybe another start and another couple of innings underneath my belt and I think we'll be ready to go. "I felt as though we were stronger today than we were five days ago," Olsen continued. "In another

I'll provide periodic updates. ... 4:20: The Nationals dropped to 0-9 after a walk-off single off of Sean Burnett. The Astros win, 8-7. 4:11: The Nationals tied the score, 7-7, in the ninth. Willie Harris walked, Eric Bruntlett doubled and Mike Morse scored Harris with an RBI groundout to second. Bruntlett was stranded at third. Sean Burnett, who pitched an easy eighth, is out for the ninth. 3:51: The Nationals inched closer in the eighth and trial 7-6 now. Justin Maxwell led off with a single, his second hit today. He stole second and went to third on a poor throw by catcher Kevin Cash, then scored on a wild pitch. 3:41: Atilano got out of the seventh with only one more running scoring, but the Nationals now trail 7-5. As much as Chico helped himself with his start against the Mets, he shredded that good will today. Six runs,

On March 4, the Nationals came here for their first game of the spring and absorbed a 15-5 beating at the hands of the Astros and the wind. The Astros launched five home runs, four of them to right-center, where the wind was blowing out. Well, today, the same wind is back for Scott Olsen to deal with. "You've just got to get the ball down," Manager Jim Riggleman said. "If you get the ball in the air, it's going to go out of the ballpark. It doesn't give you a real good read on how that guy's throwing. But it does give you the challenge of seeing if you can get the ball on the ground and seeing if you can live up to that challenge." In his last start, Olsen allowed three runs on seven hits in two innings. His velocity hovered at about 85-88 mph, which is

Elijah Dukes had been in the lineup early this morning, but the Nationals scratched him with tendnerness in his left toe as a result of being hit by a pitch last Monday. Dukes is sitting as a precaution because the field at Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, Fla. has been saturated by two straight days of rain. Dukes is expected to play tomorrow. "Nothing serious," Manager Jim Riggleman said. "And he's got the knee issue that goes on sometimes. We just felt like, let's just wait until tomorrow to put him out there and hope that the field dries up by tomorrow." For today, Justin Maxwell will replace Dukes in rightfield and the seventh slot in the order.

After the drive up Route 192 that included sights such the Reptile World Serpentarium and The Gun Store (not to be confused with The Gun Shack, which is just up the road), we're settling here at the Osceola County Baseballtarium. The weather has been reset to gorgeuous, so there's definitely going to be baseball, and the Nationals are going to play it with this lineup: Nationals 1. Nyjer Morgan, CF 2. Willie Harris, LF 3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B 4. Chris Duncan, 1B 5. Josh Willingham, DH 6. Adam Kennedy, 2B 7. Elijah Dukes, RF 8. Ian Desmond, SS 9. Wil Nieves, C -- Scott Olsen, SP This is probably an important start for Olsen, who allowed three runs on seven hits in his first outing. To be fair, several of those hits were bloops and bleeders; the three-run homer by Jorge Cantu was not. Olsen, who is overhauling his mechanics,

Elijah Dukes has been batting seventh, or even eighth, some games this spring, and that is not coincidence. Spring training is a time to try things out, and Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman is considering batting Dukes lower in the batting order this season. Dukes typically hit sixth last season when the Nationals had their full complement, but the addition of Ivan Rodriguez and Adam Kennedy may push him down in the order. Riggleman floated the idea of a regular lineup that would look something like this: 1. Nyjer Morrgan, CF 2. Cristian Guzman, SS 3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B 4. Adam Dunn, 1B 5. Josh Willingham, LF 6. Adam Kennedy, 2B 7. Ivan Rodriguez, C 8. Elijah Dukes, RF 9. Starting pitcher "With the addition of Kennedy and Pudge, there's a possibility he's going to hit lower in the lineup," Riggleman said. "Guzman is very comfortable in the second spot. I

After the Nationals refigured their pitching schedule to cope with the rain, Stephen Strasburg will still start Sunday against the Cardinals. That keeps him on a potentially interesting pace, one that could have him making a start in Washington even if he begins the year in the minor leagues. Sheinin pointed out to me today that if you extrapolate Strasburg's schedule so he pitches every fifth day, he would need to pitch April 3 - the day the Nationals host the Red Sox at Nationals Park in an end-of-spring exhibition. Pitching him that game would draw an outstanding gate - a weekend day game and Strasburg pitching in his major league city for the first time against a marquee opponent. It would also keep Strasburg on pace to throw April 8 in the season opener for Class A Potomac. That's something to keep in mind down the road. More immediately,

The question of where Stephen Strasburg will pitch this season has of course been a dominant storyline this spring training, and it seems the most likely outcome will be 15 starts in the minors, a mid-June call-up, and then he's in the majors to stay. But what about how much Strasburg will pitch? Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman discussed the Nationals' policy of trying to protect young pitchers by using a system to limit innings. Their pitches will not exceed 120 percent of the number of innings they threw the previous year, whether that was in college, the majors, or the minors. Last year Strasburg pitched 109 innings at San Diego State and 19 innings in the Arizona Fall League, a total of 128. He also participated in the Instructional League, so tack on another, say, five innings, to be conservative. Taking 120 percent of 132, then, Strasburg will throw no

For a while now, I've harbored a deep suspicion the Nationals would ultimately use their No. 1 overall draft pick this June on someone other than 17-year-old catcher Bryce Harper. It was an educated hunch, based on a few facts: 1. Multiple scouts have told me he had not separated himself from the rest of the elite class of No. 1 contenders, the way Stephen Strasburg did a year ago. 2. Some scouts have said they don't project Harper as a catcher, long-term. 3. Harper is being advised by Scott Boras, and has more negotiating leverage than Strasburg did a year ago, since Harper has the option of going back into the draft up to three more times if he doesn't reach a deal with the team that picks him. 4. I read this feature on Harper, who temporarily ended his media blackout to tell the Las Vegas Review-Journal that,

The Nationals and Yankees never had a chance today. It was called because of rain at about 9 a.m. before the Yankees even had a chance to arrive in Viera. (The bus had left, I was told, so it must have turned around.) No flyovers are planned. The Nationals aren't quite sure what they're going to do with their pitching and Jim Riggleman and Steve McCatty are meeting to figure it out right now. Jason Marquis and Matt Chico were going to be the day's starting pitchers. Yesterday, scheduled starters John Lannan and Craig Stammen couldn't pitch in a game and they threw simulated games in the bullpen. Riggleman said Stephen Strasburg and Livan Hernandez will "likely" remain on track to both pitch Sunday.

The forecast -- they're calling for flash flood warnings down here -- makes playing baseball today not much more likely than yesterday. If there is a game, it'll be Jason Marquis and Matt Chico on the mound against the Yankees. For today, I'm just going to cut to the links chase. Boz chatted yesterday, and so did Stephen Strasburg. Speaking of Strasburg, there's a left-handed, Cuban version of him throwing bullets in Arizona for the Reds. Before yesterday was rained out, Rick Short had come to take in the game as a scout. After his monster 2009, what's next for Ryan Zimmerman? On the subject of what's next, there are several names to keep in mind if the Nationals don't pick Bryce Harper. Nationals attendence is bound to go up by a few D.C.Council members this season, thanks to the mayor. If you haven't seen it yet, this is just

In his 17 years of professional baseball, Eddie Guardado had never been released before this morning, when the Washington Nationals included him in their first round of cuts. "They caught him totally, pretty much, by surprise," said Kevin Kohler, Guardado's agent. "I don't think he was expecting it at all." Kohler said Guardado has received calls from several teams interested in his services, either as a pitcher or in a front office or coaching capacity. Guardado plans on mulling his options, including simply staying with his family.