JUPITER, Fla. -- Despite his forgettable results in Wednesday's 9-3 loss to the Cardinals, Stephen Strasburg left satisfied with his latest Spring Training outing. He threw 48 pitches in two innings and gave up six runs on seven hits with one strikeout and a walk.
The Cardinals attacked a number of first-pitch fastballs from Strasburg during a four-run first inning, and Strasburg said he would have been quicker to make adjustments if this were the regular season.
"I'm just trying to think about the big picture and in my head I'm trying to go out there and work on certain things," he said. "In a regular game I probably would've pitched them differently, especially with all that early contact, swinging at every fastball they see. But stuff-wise I thought it was pretty good."

Strasburg still had encouraging takeaways. He thought his off-speed pitches were sharp and he threw some good changeups and two-seamers that induced weak contact, even if some of them dropped in for hits. He pitched entirely from the stretch for the second consecutive game and the feedback he received from the Nats' staff deemed that his velocity was normal and that he had not been losing anything by pitching out of the stretch.
So Strasburg won't read into much about the results from a game at the beginning of March. He feels good and, at times, is executing the way he wants to.
"It was a work day," manager Dusty Baker said. "You're not going to see Stras get hit like that too often."