Scott Olsen will make his first rehab start with Double-A Hagerstown on Saturday night against the Rome Braves.

Olsen last pitched for the Nationals on May 21 -- a game he exited early because of inflammation in his pitching arm. An MRI came back negative, but Olsen was put on the disabled list to give his arm time to heal.

He was 2-2 with a 3.77 ERA in eight starts prior to going on the DL.

      

Verizon's FiOS service will begin carrying MASN2's HD channel in the DC metro area starting this Friday, July 16, according to a statement released by MASN a few minutes ago. At least through the end of baseball season, MASN2 HD will be on channel 501.

      

Josh Willingham and Matt Capps joined more than 100 volunteers from the USO to pack 5,174 backpacks with school supplies at an event at Nationals Park this morning.

"It's going to make a lot of kids happy, making those backpacks for them," Willingham said. "It's also encouraging to see all the volunteers up there.  They didn't have to be there, but they came here to do that so that's encouraging."

The two-hour "Care Package Party" was part of "A Salute to the Troops" day at Nationals Park Sunday. It was sponsored by the Nationals, Microsoft and the USO.

"Building these at Nationals Park is a huge deal," USO of Metropolitan Washington President Elaine Rogers said. "Interacting with the players and the team, and then we have wounded warriors coming in... it's a huge day for our troops and having all these folks come together to support the USO and the troops."

Below are several photos from this morning's event:

      

The Giants got a taste of a more aggressive Stephen Strasburg Friday night -- a pitcher eager to call his own game and use that confidence to execute better.

Working for the first time since coming to Washington without future Hall-of-Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate, Strasburg gave up only three hits and struck out eight, earning an 8-1 win and improving to 3-2 on the season.

"I think today was really the first time where I really went out there and wanted to go out and call my own game and really do what I wanted to throw in whatever count," Strasburg told reporters after the game.

Strasburg surrendered a solo home run to Andres Torres in the top of the first after falling behind in the count, 3-1. He fell behind 3-1 again to the next batter, Freddy Sanchez.

It was then that Strasburg decided to let his instincts -- and his pre-game preparation -- take over.

"After that I was like, 'You know what, if they're going to beat me, they're going to beat me on me calling my own game,'" Strasburg said. "I was just putting it all on my shoulders and I have to do that from now on."

That meant more change-ups and curve balls, and fewer fastballs.

"The last few games they've been sitting on fastballs away and if they're going to continue to do that," Strasburg said, "they better get ready to back off the plate and better get ready for some stuff up there to keep them off balance."

Strasburg implied a lack of confidence in the pitches being called was affecting his delivery and while he didn't specifically criticize Wil Nieves' play-calling ability, it's hard not to think it was a factor.

"You've got to go out there and you've got to have a game plan," he said. "You can't worry about not executing your pitches because you're a little unsure if that's the right one to throw. It's part of the learning process."

"In college I didn't really have any say in what pitches were thrown. It was all by the coach. That's one thing that I've lacked in my game, the ability to learn as the game went on and really think out there. I was more just throwing whatever they called and now I'm starting to figure things out."

"I know how I want to attack guys in my head and I'm going to do that from now on."

      

The Nationals have scratched their plan to try to draw out Stephen Strasburg's rookie season through September, instead opting for a typical every-fifth-game rotation.

"When the innings are done, they're done," Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman said before Friday's game -- Strasburg's seventh start with the pro club.

The news was coupled with word that Strasburg would start the team's first game after the All-Star Break -- a night game against the Marlins in Florida on July 16. Until now, the expectation was that he would be held back until it was his ninth or tenth day of rest -- equivalent to a single missed start.

According to Riggleman, the decision to send send Strasburg out right away was designed to send a message to his players that the team's priority was still winning every day, not necessarily to keep Strasburg on the field longer.

"If we don't send out our best right on their early, like the first two days, then we're sending the wrong message to our ballclub," Riggleman said. "We want to win, our players want to win. I think we need to send a message that we're going to try to finish up strong here this weekend... and open up as strong as we can after the break."

Livan Hernandez will get the ball for the Nationals' second game after the break.

The change of plans was not, Riggleman said, based on the team's diminished post-season prospects, pointing out the inherent flaw in the conventional wisdom that Strasburg's appearances would be more valuable in September.

"If you didn't pitch him in those games [in July and August], but you did pitch him in September, they might not be meaningful games in September anyway. You can't have it both ways and we just decided to go this way with it."

Strasburg has pitched every five days since his debut with the Nationals on June 8, regardless of the team's off-days. Coming into Friday's game, he was 2-2 in six starts with a 2.45 ERA, giving up 10 earned runs in 36.2 innings.

The Nationals have said they intend to limit Strasburg to 160 innings this season, including the 55 innings he threw while in the minor leagues.

Riggleman said that after he's reached his innings quota, Strasburg will stay in Washington to work with pitching coach Steve McCatty and observe opposing hitters from around the league.

      

The Nationals are asking fans to bring new, unwrapped toys to this weekend's games against the Giants for their Christmas in July Toy Drive on behalf the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve's "Toys for Tots" program. The toys will be given to hospitals and non-profit groups throughout the metro area.

"Nationals fans provide tremendous support for the drives that we host here at the ballpark - and the Christmas in July Toy Drive is one of our most successful each year," said Israel Negron, who leads the club's community relations efforts. "If you're coming Nationals Park this weekend, we hope you will bring a toy for the Marine Corps Toys For Tots Foundation."

Volunteers from the Marine Corps Reserve will be at the Centerfield Gate Friday, Saturday and Sunday from the time the gates open until the end of the fourth inning.

It's the fifth time the Nationals have hosted the "Christmas in July" toy drive. Last year's drive resulted in 23 bags of toys and more than $16,000 in donations for new toys.

      

Making his second rehab start with the Potomac Nationals Thursday afternoon, Jordan Zimmermann was absolutely dominant, allowing one hit with no walks while striking out five.

He threw his prescribed three innings, tossing 49 pitches, of which 34 were strikes.

"He had a nice three-inning stint and threw the ball very well," Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman said Thursday afternoon.

Zimmermann told MASNsports.com's Byron Kerr that he felt better Thursday than he did in his first rehab start on Saturday.

"I felt ten times better today than I did in my last start," he said. The location was way better today than my last start. I was locating for the most part all day long. I was coming inside and it was pretty much there all the time. I felt the off speed stuff and everything else was working well too."

      

We do our best to keep politics off the site here (turning a blind eye to the team's adoption of RED as its primary color), but the campaign being waged by the Nationals and some of their fans to get Ryan Zimmerman elected to the All-Star game on the "final ballot" seemed to create some cover for a little political action.

After flirting with the idea of a Shepard Fairey-esque "ZIMM" poster (think Barack Obama and "HOPE"), we retreated to neutral political ground to offer a non-partisan campaign poster for Zimmerman's All-Star bid.

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And yes, font nerds, I did use the same font used during the Obama campaign for the primary typeface here.

Which player would you like to see featured with next week's wallpaper? Leave your requests in the comments!

      

Jordan Zimmermann threw two scoreless innings in his first rehab start Saturday night with the Single-A Potomac Nationals.

After the game he told reporters, "it feels great. Ive been waiting for 10 months now to get out there. I kept the ball down for the most part. No pain, I felt strong and everything went well."

He threw 25 pitches, 16 of which were for srikes. He gave up two hits and no walks, but had no strikeouts. He is expected to make one more rehab start with Potomac.

Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said he was "very encouraged."

"I heard that he threw the ball well," he said before Sunday's game. "One of the great things about Jordan last year was the number of innings that he had and the fewer number of walks that he had. Yesterday I think it was only a couple of innings, but he didn't walk anybody and it's great progress from where he's been."

Zimmermann hasn't pitched in a live game since July 18, 2009, after which he underwent Tommy John surgery. He had a 4.63 ERA in 16 games for the Nationals before the injury, earning a 3-5 record.

At the time, the Nationals expected Zimmermann would miss as long as 18 months to recover. "He's way ahead of schedule," Riggleman said today.

      

The Daily News family got a little bigger last night!

Please join me in congratulating Mike Kanick and his wife, Liz, on the arrival of their daughter, Evelyn Patricia Elizabeth Kanick!

Evelyn arrived at Georgetown University Hospital late Friday night, weighing in at 8 lbs 4 oz and standing (well, laying) 21.5 inches.

You can send your well-wishes to mike@nationalsdailynews.com!