Mark Lerner confident the Nationals will sign Bryce Harper

Nationals owner Mark Lerner expressed confidence the Nationals will sign first overall pick Bryce Harper before the Aug. 15 deadline. With last year's first pick Stephen Strasburg set to debut tonight, Lerner looked forward to Strasburg and Harper -- both clients of agent Scott Boras -- playing together one day in the near future.

"I'm confident we will work something out with Scott Boras and his organization," Lerner said. "I think Bryce wants to play very badly. I think it will be awesome to watch the two of them on the field together one day. You know, it'll take time, like anything else. But I think he'll be in Washington uniform, hopefully, pretty soon."

Boras is attending the game tonight. Before the game, Lerner embraced Boras behind the batting cage, a sign of how close he and the Nationals have become. Boras and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Team President Stan Kasten said, speak often about many topics in baseball.

For tonight, Lerner will watch Strasburg debut. Like everyone else, he has been anticipating the phenom's first big league start. For Lerner, it's hard to believe it's arrived.

"It really is surreal," Lerner said. "It's hard to sink in. The whole spring and every time he touches a ball, the whole anticipation, I've never seen anything like it. There are so many people who were looking forward to this day. I'm happy for Stephen and his family. He's a wonderful, wonderful young man."