By Howard Fendrich

AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON — Stephen Strasburg joined his teammates for an off-day workout at Nationals Park on Tuesday, red socks pulled nearly up to his knees while tossing baseballs in the outfield a day before the first postseason game in the nation’s capital in 79 years.
That’s about the extent of activity these days for Strasburg as the Washington Nationals carry on without their acknowledged ace, shut down a month ago.
The NL East champions’ opponent right now, the St. Louis Cardinals, are very much counting on their returning ace, Chris Carpenter, who has pitched only 17 innings all year. Carpenter will be on the mound this afternoon for Game 3 of the NL division series, facing Washington’s Edwin Jackson. The best-of-five series is tied at 1.