Desmond again not in Nats lineup, expects oblique injury to linger

Yet again, Ian Desmond will watch from the bench as his Nationals teammates take on a division rival. Desmond will remain sidelined tonight because of a sore left oblique, an injury which has now knocked him out of the lineup three straight days. Unfortunately for Desmond, it appears that the time off so far - both the four days of rest over the All-Star break and the last two days in which he's been held out of the Nationals lineup - hasn't allowed the oblique to make major strides in the right direction. The Nationals shortstop feels it might be something which will linger all season long and won't get completely better until the offseason. There aren't plans for Desmond to go on the disabled list, according to manager Davey Johnson, but the team will instead pick its spot for when Desmond is able to return to action. "If you saw him in the first two games in Miami, he was grimacing," Johnson said. "And I just would rather err on the cautious side. What we want to do is make sure we get past maybe a point where it keeps grabbing him as bad." The Nationals were late announcing their lineup today as they were awaiting the latest on Desmond, who has been getting treatment on the oblique in the form of anti-inflammatory medicine and heating pads. Here's the starting nine they'll go with: 2B Steve Lombardozzi CF Bryce Harper 3B Ryan Zimmerman RF Michael Morse 1B Adam LaRoche LF Tyler Moore SS Danny Espinosa C Jesus Flores P Ross Detwiler For the Mets SS Ruben Tejada 2B Ronny Cedeno 3B David Wright RF Scott Hairston LF Jason Bay 1B Ike Davis CF Andres Torres C Mike Nickeas P Jon Niese