Strasburg stellar, but can he get some help? (He can)

CHICAGO - You'd like to think on days where Stephen Strasburg goes seven fantastic innings, allowing just one run, that his teammates would be able to scratch across a couple runs for him. That has not been the case today. Strasburg is in line for the loss this afternoon despite a stellar start to the regular season. The Nationals righty went seven innings, allowing a single run on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. He threw 82 pitches, 58 for strikes. Unfortunately, he got zero run support. Strasburg kept the Cubs' hitters off-balance all afternoon, and his stat line would look even more impressive if not for a fourth inning in which he got into a little bit of trouble by allowing two singles and a walk. The 23-year-old topped out at 98 mph on the stadium radar gun, had great location and was able to throw his offspeed stuff for strikes. Chad Tracy pinch hit for Strasburg in the top of the eighth, meaning the flame-throwing righty is done for the day. He'll have to watch and see if the Nats' bats can wake up in time to scratch across a run and tie this thing. Update: All it took for the Nats to get on the board was for Ryan Dempster to take a seat on the bench. Washington tied the game 1-1 in the top of the eighth after Cubs righty Kerry Wood walked three straight hitters after coming in to relieve Dempster. The final walk, drawn by Jayson Werth, brought across Ian Desmond with the game-tying run, getting Strasburg off the hook for the loss. It was a great at-bat by Werth, who fell behind 0-2 before taking four straight balls, a couple of which were quite close to ringing him up.