The visuals during Stephen Strasburg’s last start weren’t promising. A camera at Busch Stadium in St. Louis showed the right-handed starter in the tunnel toward the clubhouse feeling the area between his shoulder and neck in apparent discomfort.
That, plus Strasburg’s significant drop in velocity and overall poor outing — allowing eight hits, eight runs and five walks in four innings — gave cause for concern that Strasburg wasn’t healthy. But the message after that game was clear: Strasburg’s dip in velocity was nothing more than a mechanical quirk, and manager Dave Martinez said trainers didn’t notice anything wrong with Strasburg.