VIERA, Fla. — Stephen Strasburg was not brilliant on Saturday.
The defense behind him was sloppy. He struggled to read the ball off the bat on a single down the first base line and was late covering the bag when a high throw came in from Adam LaRoche. He uncharacteristically threw five straight balls at one point.
“I’m ready to get out of Florida,” Strasburg said later. “That’s for sure.”
And still, he came out of it doing exactly what he needed to in his final spring tuneup: He threw 67 pitches, went four innings and put himself on track to start Opening Day on April 5 at Wrigley Field for the Washington Nationals.
“Kind of a work day,” manager Davey Johnson said flatly after the team’s 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. “Nothing too exciting.”
The exciting part was that their ace is finished pitching in meaningless games.
The next five days figure to feel a bit longer for the 23-year-old, but that’s OK. When each day between starts isn’t plagued by the soreness that comes with ligament reconstruction surgery, the time between starts seems longer. But when these five are over, he’ll be kicking off a much-anticipated Nationals’ season.
Strasburg has never broken camp with the team before, never been there for — let alone pitched on — Opening Day, and has never traveled to Chicago or been inside Wrigley Field.
The last time his entire family was together to see him pitch was almost two years ago, for his dazzling debut. They’ll all be in Chicago on Thursday.
“It’s been a long time,” Strasburg said. “I’m just excited for the experience. It’s something that doesn’t happen to everybody, starting Opening Day in Wrigley. It’s going to be fun no matter what.”
His final outing inside Space Coast Stadium was hardly one he’d like to remember in five days.
He allowed three runs (two earned) off five hits and a walk, struck out three and completed four full innings. He finished the spring with an unremarkable stat line (1-4, 4.18 ERA). But in there, he showed plenty of glimpses to excite his team and its fanbase. He looked like the pitcher he can be — efficient and dangerously effective — on most of those days, even if on others he battled with overthrowing and rushing himself.
Saturday afternoon, he summed up his own spring performance succinctly.
“Bottom line is, I got my work in,” he said. “Felt good some days. Felt a little off on others.
“It’s still a huge learning process. I think I have a much better idea of what makes me successful, and I’m just going to try to build off that.”
What no one disputed was that he’s ready to start the season.
“In my mind, he’s ready,” Johnson said. “I think in his mind, too. He’s ready to start this thing off.”
Next stop: Chicago.
• Amanda Comak can be reached at acomak@washingtontimes.com.
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