Another rain delay at Nats Park (Strasburg on mound as game resumes)

Mother nature is trying to work her way into the National League East pennant race. For the third straight day, we've got a rain delay at Nationals Park. Sunday's delay lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours, last night's game was delayed 56 minutes and now we'll have to wait and see how long we're stuck with the tarp on the field today. The delay started at 7:43 with the Nationals leading the Braves 1-0 with two outs in the top of the third. Ian Desmond got the Nats on the board in a pouring rain with a solo homer over the visitor's bullpen in left. The good news is that the rain appears to be centered directly above us, and there aren't any other fronts in the area. Once we get through this patch, we should be good for the night. Knock on wood. The Nationals and Braves are tired enough after last night's 13-inning affair which followed the delay which pushed first pitch back to 8:01 p.m. The bullpens have been leaned on pretty heavily already, and if this delay happens to last long enough to knock the starters out of the game, things could get really interesting. Update: We're back. After a 51-minute delay, the game has picked back up, and Stephen Strasburg remains on the mound. He immediately struck out Martin Prado looking at a filthy curve ball to end the inning, so apparently the Nationals' ace didn't lose much during the break. We'll have to see if the delay causes Davey Johnson to pull Strasburg earlier than normal, however. Paul Maholm will also stay in the game for the Braves.