Stephen Strasburg appears ready to return to mound for Nats (game started)

Stephen Strasburg appears ready to rejoin the Nationals rotation. The right-hander made what's expected to be his final minor league rehab start last night for Triple-A Syracuse. Strasburg tossed 85 pitches over 5 2/3 innings, yielding two runs on five hits while striking out 11 without a walk.

"I felt good," said Strasburg, who has been on the 15-day disabled list since July 5 with a strained left oblique. "My stuff is there. Just try to keep doing the same things and working on the stuff I've been doing. It's going in the right direction."

Manager Matt Williams declined to confirm that Strasburg's next start will be with the Nationals, saying that the 26-year-old needs to get through a bullpen session healthy tomorrow before a final determination is made. After missing one of his top starters for the past month, Williams was pleased what the tape showed and team officials reported from Strasburg's 11-strikeout performance yesterday.

"I think last night's an indication of him feeling good physically," Williams said. "I think last night's an indication of him being able to throw all of his pitches for strikes when he wants to. It shows command for getting ahead in the count. Command for his breaking ball was there, changeup off the fastball was there, and the fastball was 95-96 mph and touched 98, so that's all positive things for him moving forward. It means he's feeling good and has no apprehension letting the ball go."

Strasburg's season has never been on track. The oblique strain was just the latest interruption to his year, which began with a sprained left ankle in spring training and continued with a strained left trapezius muscle that sent Strasburg to the DL for the first time in late May.

He appeared to be building some momentum upon his return by striking out 15 while allowing just two runs over 12 innings in two wins in late June before suffering the setback midway through his start against the Giants on July 4.

"I don't think anybody's going to be happy with it, but you just gotta try to pull from the positives," Strasburg said of his frustrating year. "I think I've grown a lot from it and I'll continue to do that. With the situation I'm in and with the situation we're in here, we just gotta go out there and leave it all out on the field. That's all you can do. I want to go out there and help this team win some games."

Strasburg could be slotted in to start as early as Saturday against the Rockies at Nationals Park. They will be left with an interesting dilemma if rookie Joe Ross produces another impressive outing on Thursday afternoon in the series finale with the Diamondbacks.

Update: The start of tonight's game has been delayed due to inclement weather in the area.

Update II: Tonight's game will start at approximately 7:35 p.m.

Update III: After a 30-minute delay, tonight's game started at 7:35 p.m.