Stephen Strasburg missed his start last night with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Yes, it's hard to believe that a young man who throws the ball 100 mph would ever have anything bad happen to his shoulder. But now, of course, the Nationals will be dealing with all sorts of questions as they attempt to both protect and advance his golden arm. Strasburg has only thrown 109.2 innings this season at his various levels ... but that's the same workload he had in his final college season. Should they be overly cautious and shut him down for a couple weeks -- or even longer? Does all this babying of pitchers really serve a purpose? And what about the fans who have already bought tickets -- will they react like the fans at last night's game did? (Via the AP, our bold)

Word of Strasburg's difficulty was relayed from pitching coach Steve McCatty to Rizzo by a team trainer, and shortly before the scheduled beginning of Tuesday's game, the Nationals PR staff announced that Strasburg would be replaced on the mound by Miguel Batista.

There were scattered boos when that news was delivered via the loudspeakers to fans at Nationals Park -- many of whom surely purchased tickets precisely in order to watch Strasburg throw his 100 mph fastballs and hitter-confounding breaking balls. There were more and louder boos before the third inning, when a picture of Strasburg was put on the scoreboard, alongside a written explanation of why he was sitting out.

Batista took the jeers in stride.

"Imagine if you go there to see Miss Universe and you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos. But it's OK," he said. "They had to understand that as an organization we have to make sure the kid is fine."

Ah, c'mom Miguel. Katherine Connors is standing right there!

In all seriousness, the Nats seem to have done things right to this point. Let's hope this small incident isn't the first warning sign in a string of more serious problems.