WASHINGTON -- Watching Stephen Strasburg on the mound in 90-degree heat, Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker recalled how he heard the right-hander would wilt in these situations.Nothing about Strasburgs outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, or any other opponent this season, has resembled wilting. Strasburg is the first National League starting pitcher to begin a season 13-0 in more than 100 years, a recapturing of the dominance he showed early in his career before Tommy John surgery.Strasburg has won 16 consecutive decisions dating back to September and during that stretch has struck out 182 batters and walked 37. This season his 2.51 ERA is sixth in the majors, and his command of his pitches is reflected in the numbers.In my opinion this has been the best year Ive seen him pitch, catcher Wilson Ramos said through an interpreter. Hes been very effective attacking the zone, keeping the ball down. Hes been hitting his spots very well with all his pitches. Usually a starter that attacks the zone like that and doesnt miss his spots very much will usually has success like hes been having.Mixing his overpowering fastball with a cutter, curveball and change-up, Strasburg has thrown an impressive 66.4 percent of his pitches for strikes this season, and yet batters are hitting .195 against him with only 11 home runs in 17 starts.Perhaps the most impressive number is the zero in the loss column.He hasnt lost, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. Thats pretty hard to do up here. Its in late July and he hasnt lost a game. Whatever hes doing, hes probably going to continue it.Strasburgs 13 victories to open a season are tied with teammate Max Scherzer and Ron Guidry as the sixth-longest streak in major league history and mark the longest in the NL for a starter since Rube Marquard of the New York Giants went 18-0 in 1912.Asked if this felt like a 13-0 season, the 27-year-old didnt know how to answer.The results, I cant control, said Strasburg, who signed a $175 million, seven-year contract extension in May. Im trying to go out there and execute pitches and roll with the highs and lows. Its always going to be that way. You ask any veteran pitcher in the league, there are years where they feel like they really dominated all year and just didnt have the numbers to show for it and there are other years where they feel like they realty didnt pitch to the level they expected and they had all the numbers to show for it.There are tangible explanations for Strasburgs numbers, and Baker said it starts off the field. The veteran baseball man said the Nationals staff urged Strasburg to increase his work between starts.After an injury-filled 2015 that included a strained left trapezius muscle, a strained oblique and other tweaks that had little to do with pitching, Strasburg changed his workout approach. He may not work out more, but he does it differently.As Ive gotten older its not trying to go out there and lift the house in the weight room, Strasburg said. I think Ive just been trying to get back to square one, ready for the next start. Throwing that many pitches, doing that over and over again, it kind of takes a beating on your body, so were just trying to work with the training staff and identify what areas I need to work on to get feeling good for the next one.Strasburg missed two weeks this season with an upper-back strain, but that didnt slow him down. Since returning from the disabled list July 3, he has allowed just two earned runs on five hits and struck out 20 in 21 2/3 innings.Some of that dominance is mental, according to Ramos, who said Strasburg had the tendency in previous years to get down when things didnt go his way or the defense let him down. Ramos has talked to Strasburg extensively about letting his pitches work and the defense take care of things.We have a great team playing behind him and hes finally taken to that and hes pitched extremely well and the teams helped him out a lot, Ramos said. So far hes having a great year and his attitude is, I think, the biggest difference with the way hes going out there and just being aggressive -- a lot more aggressive than he has been in the last few years and I think thats made a big difference. Authentic Custom Dolphins Jersey . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Custom Dolphins Jerseys . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. http://www.customdolphinsjersey.com/ . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. Custom Christian Wilkins Jersey . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. Cheap Dolphins Jerseys .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. NAPLES, Fla. -- Cristie Kerr has had more spring in her step. She slipped on wet grass during the second round of The Evian Championship in September, and her left knee hasnt been quite right since.Im going to get it checked out when we get done with the season and see what the doctors say, Kerr said after the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship, where she is the defending champion. Hopefully its just rest.Kerr is walking around with kinesio tape and an elastic brace on the injured joint at Tiburon Golf Club, which is approximately a nine-mile trek from first tee to 18th green, although players are shuttled between some of the longest green-to-tee distances.I guess its some kind of inflammation, Kerr said. Thats why Im wearing the sleeve, to keep the inflammation down. I kind of look like a basketball player minus the height.She is only 5-foot-3, hardly imposing, but a yardstick never measured determination and, in Kerrs case, the knack for periodically turning a mallet-head putter into a magic wand.At 39, Kerr is still in the fray on an LPGA Tour that is getting younger and younger, led by 19-year-old world No. 1 Lydia Ko, who shot a course-record 62 Friday to take a three-stroke lead at 12-under 132 into the weekend of the season-ending event. Kerr got into contention with a second-round 67 that left her at 6-under 138 and in a tie for 10th place.She left the scoring tent in a better mood because she holed a 15-footer for par after hitting her approach into a bunker on No. 18. Necessary, Kerr said of the par-saving stroke on one of the greens that had been resurfaced since last years tournament. The greens are so pure that you can make a 15-footer for par when you need to.Kerr made the putt with a model of Odyssey putter that has been in her bag most of her career. Its the Two-Ball [design], Old Faithful, Kerr said. [Ive used one] off and on for since maybe my third or fourth year on tour. Same design, different putter. I have a bunch of backups. I actually got all the backups they had about two years ago. It just lines up really well and rolls the ball well. I feel the speed really well.Lisa Cornwell, a Golf Channel reporter, was behind the 18th green when Kerr finished on Friday. A few years older than Kerr, Cornwell was a talented junior golfer during the 1990s, playing in some of the same events as Kerr. I just remember this kid coming out, kind of quiet but really talented, Cornwell said. Always a great putter. And she was intense, even with her practice. She always had that razor-sharp focus.Kerr needed that mindset in 1996 when she turned professional at 18 after graduating from high school in Miami. Although in recent years it has become common -- particularly outside the United States -- for talented women to start playing for pay so soon, it ddidnt happen too often when Kerr bypassed college after a stellar junior career.dddddddddddd After getting some experience on the mini-tours, Kerr tied for sixth at LPGA Qualifying School and was a tour rookie in 1997. She won her first tournament in 2002 and presently became one of the top women players.Eighteen victories, including two major championships, later, she is still chasing the dream as a wife, mother and budding wine entrepreneur with a label, Curvature, whose profits support research for breast cancer, a disease her mother, Linda, was diagnosed with in 2003.As Kerr closes out her 30s, Juli Inkster, the Hall of Famer who still competes on the LPGA at 56, is on her mind. I would love to play as long as Juli has, Kerr said. Shes always been one of my role models. Shes a grinder, a fighter, and she loves to work and practice just like I do. There arent a whole lot of things better than this to do, so were pretty blessed.Since the year of her first victory, Kerr has never finished worse than 19th on the LPGA money list. A hot weekend at Tiburon, where first prize is $500,000, would improve her current 40th position.You definitely want to model Cristies career, how she gets so much out of her game, said American Austin Ernst, 24. Shes been out here for two decades. Shes a grinder, and you cant really count her out of a tournament. She has a way of willing putts in the hole. It seems like she still loves to play.Kerr wasnt expected to overshadow Ko and Inbee Park at last years Tour Championship, but she did. Ko, who can overtake Ariya Jutanugarn in the race for Rolex Player of the Year and win her third straight Race to the CME Globe $1 million bonus with a victory, will be difficult to catch, her 10-under Friday score seeming to slam the brakes on a lull in her game during the recent Asian Swing.I would love that mini-slump, Kerr said jokingly of Kos unexpected lackluster form leading up to this week while hoping to end her own season, which has included four top-10s but no wins, on another high note. Good players are always able to call it up at some point, whether its a pressure 3-point shot in basketball or a clutch putt to make par or win a tournament. Good players find a different level of focus. Thats what Im looking for the next two days.The day might come when there are no 39-year-olds on the LPGA, when the tour is solely stocked with players who arent old enough to rent a car, who leave when players not that long ago arrived in their primes. I dont know if theyll want to play as long as Ive played, Kerr said. They keep getting younger.But the new wave would be wise to keep at least one eye on an outlier, sore knee or not. ' ' '