Nationals' Strasburg streaking toward majors | Larry Stone notebook

Many teams will be seeking a pitching upgrade as the trade deadline nears. The suddenly contending Nationals — I'll pause while you soak in those words — could get the biggest jolt in baseball.

I'm talking, of course, about Stephen Strasburg, who isn't just knocking on the major-league door, he's breaking it down. Now that he's toying with Class AAA hitters, just as he did in AA, the Nationals have no other good reason to keep Strasburg down besides ensuring that they delay his arbitration eligibility for a year.

The Nationals are not letting anyone know their promotion plans for Strasburg, but the best guess is he'll make his major-league debut Friday, June 4, against the Reds.

Strasburg, in his latest start for Class AAA Syracuse on Wednesday, didn't allow any hits in six innings against Norfolk. In two outings for Syracuse, Strasburg is 2-0 with a 0.00 earned-run average, having allowed one hit and two walks while striking out 13. In seven overall starts between Syracuse and Class AA Harrisburg, he's 5-1 with a 1.06 ERA, allowing four earned runs and 14 hits over 34 innings, with 40 strikeouts and eight walks. Strasburg has allowed zero or one hit in four of his last five starts.

Remember, this guy was pitching at San Diego State this time last year.

Blalock up, not out

Hank Blalock and his agent, Scott Boras, are forcing the Rays to decide on his future. The Rays had been stowing Blalock at Class AAA Durham, where he led the International League with a .375 average, four homers, 23 RBI (in 23 games) and a .987 OPS.

Boras indicated to the St. Petersburg Times on Tuesday that Blalock, 29, would activate the out clause in his minor-league contract within the week. At that point, the Rays would have had to promote him to the major-league team, or allow Blalock to become a free agent and sign elsewhere.

They promoted him before Saturday's game against the Mariners, after Pat Burrell was designated for assignment.

Notes and quotes

• Last week in Milwaukee, Braves manager Bobby Cox and his coaching staff posed for photos in some outlandish outfits. It was designed to be a souvenir of a season that Cox has already announced will be his last.

On a whim, however, Cox suggested that the staff wear the outfits home Wednesday after the Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Brewers at Miller Park. So while the Braves players howled in delight, Cox and his coaches departed the ballpark for the airport wearing what Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "unimaginably bold" zoot suits, fedoras and patent leather shoes.

Like rookies being hazed in September, hitting coach Terry Pendleton was outfitted in a lavender suit with a purple cap, while Cox wore orange slacks with a jacket that, according to the AJC, featured wide orange-and-white pinstripes.

"Eddie (Perez, bullpen coach) and I have been talking about this for a couple of years," said Pendleton, who told the newspaper they got the idea when they would ride past a men's store in downtown Milwaukee. "We wanted to do something different with Skipper, so we all came in here early yesterday, took some pictures with him.

"It was Skipper's idea to wear these home today. We were like, no way. He said, 'We've got to wear them home.' So we're in 'em."

• John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press noticed this numerical oddity: Legendary announcer Ernie Harwell died on May 4, a date which is noted as 5-4. When Harwell was honored six nights later at the Tigers' first home game since his death, the Tigers beat the Yankees ... 5-4.

Furthermore, Lowe pointed out, two of the most dramatic games Harwell announced ended 5-4: Denny McLain's 30th win in 1968, and the Giants' pennant-winner on Bobby Thomson's homer in '51.

• Entering the weekend, the Cubs were 6-1 in Carlos Silva's starts, 9-19 in all other games.

"I feel good, not only because I'm 4-0 but I feel like I'm helping my team right now," Silva told the Chicago Tribune. "To be honest, I feel good because I feel like I'm somebody right now."

• You might have already seen this quote from Oakland's perfect-game pitcher, Dallas Braden, but it's worth repeating. Here's Braden on one of his pitching heroes:

"Jamie Moyer played catch with Jesus, and he's still getting it done."