Strasburg set to start Thursday, plus Ramos, Desmond updates

Despite all that was going on around the Navy Yard area yesterday, a handful of players still made their way to Nationals Park to get in some work and prepare for the possibility of a game. Stephen Strasburg was one of them. Strasburg threw his scheduled bullpen session yesterday, and according to manager Davey Johnson, the Nationals' ace right-hander didn't feel any issues in his right forearm. Strasburg had been scratched from his start last Friday due to tightness in the forearm, but he took two days off, played catch Sunday and then felt fine yesterday during his mound session. "Great. He feels great," Johnson said. "We're by it. ... He had a great 'pen. Felt really good about it. So we're set to go for the 19th." Ross Ohlendorf will start tomorrow in the Nats' series finale against the Braves, and then Strasburg will start in the opener of a four-game series with the Marlins Thursday. Normally in a doubleheader, teams start a different catcher in each of the games in order to avoid wearing one guy out. But it sounds like there's a chance that Johnson starts Wilson Ramos in both halves of today's double dip. Ramos has started 23 straight games behind the plate, the most of any big league catcher this season, and he'll extend that streak to 24 in the first game of the doubleheader today. But Johnson didn't rule out pushing the streak to 25 by starting Ramos in the nightcap, as well. "He probably wants to. And I mean the situation we're in, there's no rest for the weary," Johnson said. "We got to put our best foot out there. I'm going to see how he comes out of the first game. ... I'm considering it. He's a horse." Johnson reported that Ian Desmond has been dealing with a tight hamstring recently, an injury that could knock the shortstop from the lineup for the second game today. "I hope he's going to be all right. He may only play one," Johnson said. Desmond has played in all but three games this season, but Johnson said this hamstring issue has been lingering of late. "I think it's been something he's kind of been nursing," Johnson said. "You couldn't tell it by the way he's running. He's been on base a lot, goes out there for nine. So hopefully he'll be all right."