Stephen Strasburg leaves Braves feeling sick

Stephen Strasburg was so sick Wednesday he had to postpone his scheduled start.

He still was not feeling that great Thursday, but gutted it out, told his skipper he was good to go and went 7 2/3 innings as the Nationals completed a four-game sweep of the Braves with a 6-2 victory.

Strasburg said that the temperature change from spring training in Florida to the cold early April days in D.C. has affected him before.

"It just seems like every year we get back from Florida and you get into that cold weather we had here, it messes with my body a little bit," Strasburg said. "Hit me a little bit harder than it has in years past. I just needed to go out there and just suck it up and give it everything I had."

Strasburg was asked by manager Dusty Baker early Thursday if he was good to start. If not, reliever Yusmeiro Petit was going to take his place.

"We didn't know up to a couple minutes from me talking to you guys (before the game)," Baker said. "It was about a minute. We were waiting on him, and Petit was ready to start in his place. We didn't know. But I told you, sometimes you throw some of your best games on days when you don't think you can do it."

"I was going to go out there and give it everything I had and that's what I told them," Strasburg said. "So whatever that was going to be, they were going to get it. I just kept telling myself just one pitch at a time. Kept reminding myself I was a just click away and it was all going sync up eventually."

Strasburg walked the first batter in each of the first two innings and allowed two hits and a run in the third.

After that, he got rolling.

"I think it's just trying to be aggressive early in the count, throwing my pitches, and just keeping the count in my favor and not falling behind," Strasburg said.

Baker gave more insight on how the Nats treated Strasburg's illness during the week.

"We think it was the flu," Baker said. "I'm not a doctor. They gave him an IV yesterday, and they will probably give him another one tonight after the game. Like I said, he was coughing, he was hocking. I heard him around the corner two days ago. He sounded terrible. We sent him home. And then he came in yesterday and sounded a little better.

"And then today, I saw him in the lunch room and said: 'Hey, can you go today?' And he said: 'Yeah, I can go, Skip.' He looked better. He didn't look great, but he looked better."

Strasburg said he wasn't concerned as the start went on that he wouldn't be able to finish.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better," he said. "I was just kind of on the meds and stuff the last couple of days. I just want to go out there and take it one pitch at a time. It took a little while to settle in. Once the game got going, I guess I sweated it out a little bit and started to lock in.

"You can't really worry about that kind of stuff out there. Whatever I had in the tank, I was going to give it all to the guys. Whatever happens, happens."

And suddenly, his team is 7-1 as they head to Philadelphia to begin their seven-game road trip.

"We're taking it one day at a time and we are just going out there and competing, playing loose and playing together," Strasburg said.