As Friday nights go

I've had many that were a lot better.

*The Flores situation sours everything - even if the Nats had won and Strasburg had pitched a no-hitter. I just have this terrible feeling that nothing good is going to come out of the visit to Dr. Andrews. Monday night, we'll read about surgery being scheduled. Besides hating it for Flores, who seems like a very good kid in addition to being a quality player, it is an horrendous blow for the team. The dropoff from No. 1 catcher to Nos. 2/3 is HUGE (no offense Wil, but it is what it is here). I love Nieves as a backup. Not sure I want him catching every day. I congratulate Bard on the birth of his third child but I'm not convinced he could throw any of his kids out trying to steal. If Flores is out long-term, they'll have to make some kind of move. Not sure a good one is out there.

*My recent poll shows 37 votes for learning in the bigs, four for learning in the minors. I want to hear from the four - not so I can abuse you and tell you how wrong you are, but so I can weigh some other opinions against my own that is admittedly colored by emotion. Even given last night, I still want Detwiler to learn in the majors. If that's the worst he does against that team in that stadium, I'm OK with it. And you can make a case - shocker - that some better defense would have limited the damage.

*Anyone else watch Strasburg? From innings 3-7 he was dominant. There are a lot of pieces there but he still needs some work. I hope the Nats have the people in place to see that the work is done right and not screw him up. We're not talking massive adjustments here. His team isn't very good. U.Va. carved out a couple of runs early, one on a home run, and I never for a second felt like San Diego State would get back into the game.

*How many times over the next few years will we read a headline that says some variation of "Dukes faces jail time?" Is there is "list" for that if it actually happens (disabled/restricted/suspended/incarcerated)? How does it affect the 40-man? I know this, the Nats need him in the lineup. Maxwell looks ridiculously overmatched. He looked much better during his cup of coffee two years ago.

*Clint Hurdle to the Nats? I kicked it around with some buds and they seemed convinced of one thing: You don't want him anywhere near Strasburg. I didn't realize he'd only had one winning season out there. Hell, he basically had a good eight weeks when they put on that amazing rush to force a playoff. I would like to know how many times in the past two weeks a Rockie failed to cover a base on a ground ball in the infield. If that happens again with the Nats, what's left of my brain may explode.

It's only 9 a.m. This day can't go anywhere but up. I'm really, really hoping Flores' visit to Birmingham isn't the downer I expect but I'm about a zero on the optimism scale on that one.