Scherzer will start Friday; Glover getting second opinion

MIAMI - Max Scherzer is cleared to start Friday night as scheduled for the Nationals. The odds of Koda Glover returning to pitch for the Nats this season, however, appear to have dwindled.

Scherzer was able to throw a bullpen session this afternoon with no ill effects from his bruised left calf, and the Nationals have officially listed him as Friday's starter against the Phillies.

"He's getting treatment and getting his leg worked on and stuff," manager Dusty Baker said. "So, yeah, as of right now, he's good for Friday."

Scherzer was never terribly worried about his chances for returning quickly after taking a comebacker off his lower left leg Saturday night in Milwaukee, even though he spent the next two days walking with a limp. Because the injury was strictly a bruised calf muscle, the right-hander was confident it would heal quickly with treatment and pose no long-lasting threat.

Once he played catch on flat ground Tuesday, Scherzer knew he'd be fine to make his next start. His bullpen session today was more of a procedural hurdle to cross.

Scherzer will slot back into the Nationals rotation in between Tanner Roark, who starts Thursday's series opener against the Phillies, and Edwin Jackson, who starts Saturday. Sunday's starter has not been named yet. The club could either go with Stephen Strasburg on regular rest or bring A.J. Cole back to make another start and allow Strasburg and others in the rotation get extra rest.

The news isn't as promising about Glover, the hard-throwing reliever who has been out since June 11 with a tear in his rotator cuff. Glover had been rehabbing at the Nationals' spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., and had suggested some positive developments in recent weeks via his Twitter account, but Baker said the 24-year-old has gone to Texas to get a doctor's second opinion.

Baker spoke to Glover this morning and sensed a discouraged pitcher.

"Yeah, there was discouragement, because he wants to pitch," Baker said. "Here's a guy, he's young. This is his life right now. He's been here a long time away from us. I like to have injured players around, because regardless of how much they contribute or how little they contribute, they all contributed at some point in time to the success of this year. They're a part of us."

To that end, Baker has invited Glover to rejoin the team in Washington this weekend and experience the pennant race and likely division clinch in person.

"He's close to home, so he's going to go to Oklahoma for a few days," Baker said. "Then I told him: 'You need to come join us in Washington.' Just to get that feeling, whether he pitches for us anymore this year, that playoff, down-the-stretch feeling that there's no substitute and you can't really describe unless you've been there."

If he doesn't return to pitch in 2017, this will be the second straight season Glover has been injured in September and unable to pitch in the postseason. He dealt with a torn labrum in his hip last fall as a rookie and wound up a spectator.

"All I know is, he said he'd never been hurt until he got to the big leagues, his whole life," Baker said. "Maybe he's getting them out of the way and he won't be hurt anymore in the future."