Clippard battling minor shoulder discomfort

Davey Johnson revealed after today's game that All-Star reliever Tyler Clippard is battling some shoulder discomfort, although it wasn't enough to keep him out of today's game. Clippard and Johnson both say that the discomfort didn't affect the righty's performance today (Clippard allowed three runs in the 11th inning) and isn't anything major. Instead, they say, this is something that 27-year-old experiences every season around this time. "It's just normal stuff I've been going through, stuff I've been going through my whole career," Clippard said. "Nothing out of the ordinary." Johnson said he was only going to use Clippard today in an emergency. And with the Nationals playing their third extra-inning game in four days and a number of relievers already worn down, "that was an emergency," Johnson said. When it comes to Clippard's shoulder, all these recent high-stress games aren't exactly helping things. "Yeah, I'm tired," Clippard said. "I haven't really been pitching a lot, but it definitely takes a toll on you. But they're fun, they're fun games to be in, and you can't really ask for much more than that." Despite the reassurances about the normalcy of Clippard's shoulder soreness, hearing of it is still slightly concerning. Clippard's so valuable to the Nationals' bullpen, especially with Drew Storen out after having elbow surgery, and considering the fact Clippard has thrown the most innings of any reliever in the majors during the last two years, you have to hope it doesn't eventually catch up to him.