Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg is dealing with a strained flexor mass in his right elbow but his UCL is intact, trainer Paul Lessard said Thursday.?Strasburg had an MRI on the elbow earlier Thursday, one day after leaving a start in the third inning.?Lessard said the injury is not necessarily season-ending but offered no timetable for Strasburgs return.?Im thinking lets take care of the swelling and get him to a pain-free range of motion, and then well start a strengthening program, Lessard said. Im just worried about the next four or five days right now.?Strasburg felt a pinch in the back of his elbow Wednesday night, and was forced to make an early exit in his first start since returning from the disabled list.?Unfortunately, it just happened on one pitch, Lessard said. Its just an acute injury vs. an overuse injury.Strasburg previously had been out since Aug. 17 because of soreness in his right elbow. He left Wednesdays start after 2 1/3 innings and 42 pitches, allowing a run on two hits, before NL East-leading Washington went on to defeat Atlanta 5-4 in 11 innings.Before going on the disabled list, Strasburg allowed 19 runs over his final three starts, including nine over 1 2/3 innings in a loss to Colorado his last time out. In his first 17 starts, he was 13-0 with a 2.51 ERA.It was Strasburgs second stint on the disabled list this season. The right-hander missed 17 games in June with an upper back strain.After he exited Wednesday, fears were that Strasburg would need a second Tommy John surgery after having the procedure in 2010.?Its good to hear it wasnt what everybody was speculating, manager Dusty Baker said Thursday.Waiting on news is always nerve-racking. You should have been with me waiting on news that I had cancer ... toughest part of my cancer was the three-month checkup, six-month checkup. Waiting on news is not very pleasant.Strasburg signed a seven-year extension worth $175 million in May. He had an MRI before inking that deal, and Lessard said Thursday that Strasburgs elbow looks basically the same as it did then.?The Nationals entered Thursday night with an 8?-game lead over the Mets in the NL East.?Asked who will take Strasburgs spot in the rotation, Baker said the team hadnt decided yet.We have the personnel that we have, he said. You cant count on somebody else coming in here. So we have to the best for the situation with what we have and then make a determination on who is to take his place now and possibly later or is it a better option to not have Stephen or do we not count Stephen out? Those are our options, and the Lord knows and can heal Stephen with the help of our trainers and doctors.Information from ESPNs Eddie Matz and The Associated Press was used in this report. Aaron Jones Super Bowl Jersey . Pert has formerly spent time as an assistant coach with Cardiff City, Coventry City, and Bahrain mens national team. "Martyn is a highly-respected coach with experience at the top levels in England," said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson. Packers Super Bowl Jerseys .S. -- Nikolaj Ehlers registered a hat trick for the third straight game and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and five assists as the Halifax Mooseheads hammered the host Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 10-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. http://www.shoptheofficialpackers.com/Customized/ . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. David Bakhtiari Super Bowl Jersey . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. Kevin King Super Bowl Jersey . LUCIE, Fla. Despite not having played a true home game since the 2009 militant attacks on the Sri Lanka tour bus in Lahore, the Pakistan team proudly tops the ICC Test rankings. Misbah-ul-Haq, captain of this nomadic cricket nation, fittingly said that being No. 1 is not a destination, but part of a journey. His players see their family and friends a few times a year. Considering the homesickness problems of some of Englands best, Pakistans mighty achievement has come under physical, logistical and psychological stress.Cricket and home, or a lack of one, is a concept I was introduced to at the tender age of 17. Saturday afternoon, picked for a league game with my old Leicestershire club, Barkby United, I left my house in the morning, walked off my estate and carried my kitbag across the cornfields to the pretty little village ground Id been playing on since I was 11. We played the match, win or lose I cant remember, and I hiked back across the fields to my house. Or what I thought was my house. My stepfather ensured that I never walked through the door again, and instead of my own bed I slept that night in the park, wearing my whites over the top of my clothes to keep warm.The next morning I sought out the man I usually called upon for advice - my captain. He might not have guessed that his sage words from mid-off on my outswingers would result in me turning up on his doorstep without a home. However - and long before the #CricketFamily hashtag on Twitter - he welcomed me into his house. I stayed for a month before our opening batsman moved out of his flat so I could move in.And the cricket family wasnt just about a roof over my head. At 17, with no guidance, no curfew, no one telling me not to get blind drunk or go clubbing every night of the week, the players became surrogate fathers. I played to impress my team-mates, the cricket collective that watched over not just how I performed on a Saturday afternoon but whether I was eating properly, and whether I was still turning up to college on a Monday morning.All across the country, anywhere in the world, I hope, where cricket is played, a thriving club is a force for good in a society that feels more and more fractured. A healthy team, whether directly or indirectly, imbues values and codes of behaviour, and gives back to the individual in times of need. So perhaps its no surprise that the Refugee Cricket Project (RCP), a specialist programme established in South London by the Refugee Councils Childrens Section in response to the number of tteenage boys, particularly those from Afghanistan who were passionate about cricket, exists.dddddddddddd Staff working with the children observed how playing cricket boosted their language learning and confidence, and also helped introduce them to British life. The RCP offers year-round cricket coaching, fixtures against a host of opposition, including the MCC and my own team, the Authors XI, as well as placements within local club sides. It also provides advice and support for members on immigration and welfare issues.For boys fleeing a war-torn country, evading threats from political groups, imprisonment, and even forced recruitment into terrorism, cricket has become a safe space. After making long and dangerous journeys through alien cultures, and then arriving in a land where their only friends are their fellow migrants, cricket is a home away from home, and the support of team-mates is akin to the comfort of a family.Refugees at the Jungle Camp in Calais, where some of the players who are now part of the RCP once stayed, put on nightly cricket matches that apparently baffle the local French police. The games are particularly enjoyed by the young Afghan players, reported the Daily Mail, who used to face punishment if caught playing cricket by the Taliban.A love for cricket, it appears, transcends war and conflict. Even Harold Pinter, Nobel prize-winning playwright and keen social cricketer, famously ran back into a burning house during the blitz. There was an air raid. We opened the door and our garden, with this large lilac tree, was alight all along the back wall. We were evacuated straight away. Though not before I took my cricket bat.In the two matches Ive played against the RCP XI, its not only the raw talent that dazzles, the athletic fielding, lightning bowling and outrageous batting, but the empathy and warmth within the squad and its wider organisation. To take part in a competitive game - facing the quickest of quicks Ive seen (or perhaps not seen would be more accurate) - versus such gracious opposition is a rare pleasure. The cultural exchange in playing against a side of young refugees goes both ways, and can only enhance our understanding of the much vilified other in a UK riven by anti-immigrant rhetoric. This is a team bonding not only through a shared experience of trauma and diaspora, but a love of sport. This is cricket family. ' ' '