Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg met with general manager Mike Rizzo, head coach Davey Johnson and pitching coach Steve McCatty on Monday morning where the group collectively informed Strasburg that he would be making two more starts in 2012.

Prior to that meeting, the club purposely gave the pitcher vague information about the specifics of his shutdown date (other than the fact that they would be shutting him down at some point), in order to keep his mind off the amount of innings he had left in his season.

While Strasburg will accept the decision, he has been fairly vocal in his desire to keep playing.

Via NatsInsider.com:

"It's no secret that Stras is an intense competitor, wants to be here, wants to be contributing, wants to be helping," Johnson said. "And I'm sure it's probably eating him up more than anybody involved in this whole thing, because he wants to be here and help his teammates."

Despite the end of his season, the 24-year-old ace plans to continue to support his teammates in the stretch run.

"I'm in with these guys," he said. "We still have a long way to go. I'm going to fight with them to the end."

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