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Zimmerman Plays Nats' Hero -- Again
Ryan Zimmerman takes an "emergency hack" at Brian Wilson's slider, depositing it softly into right field for his sixth game-winning hit in two seasons.
(Photos By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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That, then, is a step for Chico in earning a chance to compete for the 2008 rotation. With a less-than tantalizing list of free agent pitchers on the market, General Manager Jim Bowden said the majority of the contenders for next year's staff are likely already in the organization.
"A lot of people have a lot to prove," Bowden said.
In the Nationals' eyes, Zimmerman isn't one of them. The 22-year-old struggled through a sluggish first half of the season, one in which he hit .253, slugged .435 and had a .302 on-base percentage. Since, he has hit .297, slugged .528 and posted a .362 on-base percentage. At the break, Zimmerman was on pace to drive in 83 runs. Yesterday, he drove in his 80th, and is on pace to plate 95.
"I think I learned not so much anything new about how pitchers are pitching me," Zimmerman said. "I just learned how to be a 'three' hitter. I think people don't realize that other teams really don't like to let that guy beat them. You don't get a lot of 2-0 fastballs anymore."
Against Wilson, though, Zimmerman had no choice but to look for fastballs. With one out, Lopez scalded a double to the left-center field gap, the Nationals' first hit since the third. That brought up Zimmerman, who swung through the first 97-mph heater.
"The first one," Zimmerman said, "he just blew by me."
So he stepped out, breathed deeply, then stepped back in. Wilson missed up-and-away with a 98-mph fastball. Zimmerman then made the kind of mistake he wants to avoid in such a situation. Wilson came with another fastball, this one chest-high. "I thought it was up," Zimmerman said, yet he swung and missed anyway.
At 1-2, Wilson touched 99 with his next fastball, but it was outside. The 2-2 pitch was high-and-away, so the count was full. With that kind of heat, Zimmerman had to think fastball. When Wilson threw a slider on the outside part of the plate, all Zimmerman could do was react.
"It was kind of an emergency hack, you could say," he said.
It settled softly in right field, and Lopez scooted around to score. So there was Zimmerman, for the seventh time in his brief career, taking his teammates' punches and explaining how he ends up stepping out, breathing deeply -- and being the hero so frequently.
"You got to want to be there," he said. "I'll take some of the credit. I enjoy being in those situations. I think you have to. You have to want to be up there."
