Zimmerman on rehab assignment; Solis, Ross close; Werth day off

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman will begin his rehab assignment tonight at high Single-A Potomac to test his left rib cage strain.

Nationals manager Dusty Baker is hopeful Zimmerman can return to the team early next week.

"I'd like him to get three games in probably," Baker said. "Then join us here and travel with us to Cleveland and then be eligible to play on Tuesday."

* Baker scratched Jayson Werth from today's original lineup for a day of rest and not any type of injury.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Baker said. "I just changed it in the middle of the night. I just thought about the 18-inning game, I thought about this early day game and thought about how we probably all feel in this room, including my players. (Chris) Heisey needed to play. Michael (A. Taylor) needs to play."

* Right-hander Joe Ross is expected to have another bullpen session today. Baker said this week Ross could go up to 50-60 pitches. He threw 35 pitches in his last bullpen session. Ross has been out with right shoulder inflammation dating back to July 3.

"He's doing better," Baker said. "He's doing fine. I don't know when his next bullpen is (today)."

* Left-hander Sammy Solis is also making steady progress, working in the training room extensively each day as he recovers from right knee inflammation. Solis has been on the disabled list retroactive since July 8. He believes he can be a go in Sunday's game, when he is eligible to come off the DL.

"I think I'm ready Sunday," Solis reported. "The 15 days is up Sunday, so it's (close). We'll see, it all depends on how I'm progressing through my program.

"We are really working at it right now. We're three-to-four hours a day of treatment. It kind of all depends on how I'm feeling come Sunday when the 15 days is up. We'll see what they do."

Solis said the knee soreness became an issue well before the All-Star break. He struggled against the Mets July 7, allowing two hits, three walks and a run in 1/3 inning of work.

"It was bothering me for awhile," Solis said. "But it kind of came to a breaking point where I had to say something. So the team shut me down. Could I have pitched? Maybe, but just being precautious.

"It is tough. Especially I had been on the DL quite a bit, which is never fun. But I didn't want to start compensating for my knee and end up hurting my arm. So I think it was a smart move.

"Coming off the break, I was ready to go anyway, but the knee just didn't really recover over those four days off," Solis said. "The workload is definitely not what caused it. It's just been a nagging thing for awhile now and it came to a breaking point, and I said something and they shut me down. They could've said he we need you to pitch through it. They've treated me right."

Solis has pitched to a 1-3 record with a 2.43 ERA in 25 games.