Maybe I'm confused. When did the object of the game in major league baseball change from 'winning the World Series" to "keeping healthy players sidelined to protect them from some future "possible" injury"? If I was a fan of the Washington Nationals I would be livid today that their worst fears have come to pass. After years of futility they finally have the best record in baseball and are poised to make the playoffs. And with the team they have put together they would have great chance of advancing to and possibly winning the World Series. Unfortunatly GM Mike Rizzo and the management of the Nationals is hamstringing their effort by shutting down their best pitcher and possibly the best pitcher in baseball, Stephen Strasburg after two more starts to save his elbow. See he had "Tommy John" surgery on the elbow last year and Rizzo has decided that its not worth the risk to over tax the elbow now and possibly affect his future years in the big leagues. The key word in that sentence is "possibly". See there is no guarantee that he won't get hurt even if they shut him down. Hell, there is no gurantee that he will get hurt if they dont shut him down. There are no guarantees in baseball or any other sport. When you have a chance to win a championship, you go for it. Ask Kirk Gibson...ask Curt Schilling...ask any pro athlete who put his future health at risk to win a championship. It's why we play the games and why we as fans are interested. If the Nationals were out of the playoff picture I would have no problem with their decision. As it stands, I am deeply offended as a baseball fan to see this travesty go down. Strasburg, of course, wants to pitch. He realizes that these chances don't come around that often. He may never get the chance again...and the people who control him, in a futile effort to guarantee his protection, are instead hurting him more than his elbow ever did.

The Brewers are trying to play their way back into wild card contention. They slipped yesterday, losing in Florida and are 7 game behind now. It would seem they don't have enough time to leapfrog 3 teams in less than a month but you never know. What really hurt was losing five games earlier in August to Houston & Colorado. It is good to see the team continue to battle and not just play out the string...Weeks & Gomez are two of the guys that are really hitting well. Gomez has finally become the complete player this year that everybody thaought he could be years ago.

The Badgers escaped with a narrow win over Northern Iowa thanks to Medford native Ethan Hemer batting down a 4th down pass to ice the game. The defense struggled despite returning alot of guys from last year. The offense and new QB Danny O'Brien looked ok. Bret Bielema said they got more out of this than a 40 point blowout...he's probably right but if youre going to contend with the big boys do you really want to struggle to beat Northern Iowa?

Going to be talking to the voice of the Badgers Matt Lepay later today. he's got a new book out talking about his tears behind the mic for Wisconsin. I'll post it as a podcast later today.

We also welcome Seth Mela to the show today as the new host of the Wisconsin Morning News.

Songs of the Day   (From My I-pod)

Mack The Knife-Bobby Darin (1958) the classic Kurt Weill tune from "The ThreePenny Opera" originally recorded by Louis Armstrong. Darin's version was banned from the radios of New York on this date in 1959 because of some fatal stabbings by teenagers

Help-The Beatles(1965) this title tune went to #1 on this date in 65