Rehab updates on Drew and Strasburg

PHILADELPHIA - The Nationals have understood all along that Stephen Drew's recovery from an inner ear ailment would have no set timetable. The veteran infielder would simply start to feel well enough at some point to resume playing.

By all accounts, he's nearing that point.

Drew has ramped up his baseball activities over the last two days, taking batting practice and fielding grounders with the rest of his Nationals teammates. His mood and energy level also have been noticeably different to those around him, which can actually be a telltale sign of improvement.

"His spirit's better," manager Dusty Baker said. "He's talking again. So you know he's better."

Out since July 24 with what the club called "vertigo-like symptoms," Drew has been through a long and slow recovery process ever since. He began taking part in defensive drills a couple weeks ago, but his condition wavered from day to day, the dizziness at times becoming too extreme to allow him to take part in drills.

Sometime in the last few days, though, Drew has seen marked improvement. The question is when he'll be ready to play in something resembling an actual game, and how the Nationals will know when it's time for that.

"He told me he's feeling better," Baker said. "I don't know if he's 100 percent, or not feeling anything, or can function without endangering himself. We probably won't be able to tell maybe until he gets into action. But he's talking like he might possibly be ready for some action pretty soon, 'cause there's not many games left to play anywhere for him. We hate to just throw him out there in this championship run in September and not know."

Stephen Strasburg, meanwhile, emerged from Monday's bullpen session at Citizens Bank Park feeling "pretty good," according to Baker. The right-hander, who landed on the 15-day disabled list Aug. 22 with a sore elbow, may not need much time to ramp himself back up since he hasn't been shut down for long and he continued to work out throughout his DL stint.

"He's been doing shoulder exercises," Baker said. "He's been running extra. So his wind is good. It just depends on how he feels. We've still got some time. We still have quite a bit of time, actually."