David Huzzard: Zimmerman aging, but deserves a championship finish

When I think of the Nationals - not the current squad, but the franchise as a whole - the two players I view as the heart and soul of the team are Livan Hernandez and Ryan Zimmerman. The part that is sad to me is Zimmerman had the best years of his career before the Nationals were good. Shoulder injuries and age have caught up to Zimmerman much too quickly and the twilight of his career is upon him. He is a shell of his former self and the Nationals should make finding a new first baseman a priority this offseason. It is what's best for business.

That doesn't mean I won't be rooting for Zimmerman or one last big sendoff. Let's think about postseason heroes, guys like Scott Spiezio, David Eckstein, Pablo Sandoval and Scott Podsednik. None of them were great players, but they all got hot at the right time and carried teams through the postseason. Everyone that's been a Nationals fan has seen one of Zimmerman's hot streaks. It takes a while for him to lock in his complex batting stance, but once he does the ball flies to all fields, and what better time for Zimmerman to lock it in than October?

As someone who prefers advanced stats I get accused often of being emotionless and evil, but when it comes to Zimmerman I want to see him get a proper send-off and there is no better way for that to happen than for the season to end with him holding the World Series trophy. The Nationals are going to need everyone to step up if they hope to make it past the Cubs in a potential National League Championship Series and let's not forget the Dodgers now have Clayton Kershaw back. Beating the best pitcher in the world is no easy task and the Dodgers are going to have him go twice in the Division Series. I have no doubt that when the spotlight is on Bryce Harper he will shine like he always has, but that won't be enough.

Every team that plays deep into October has an unlikely hero and I want that to be Zimmerman. I still remember sitting in the stands in June 2006 when he delivered his first career walk-off homerun, then again on July 4th and on down the years for several other Zimmerman walk-offs. It would be tremendous to see "Mr. Walkoff" make an appearance this October. Zimmerman has been hitting the ball hard. There are signs he's locking it in and his right-handed bat is going to be that much more important against Kershaw.

Unlikely heroes are made in October. In 2009 and 2010 the Nationals weren't good enough for Zimmerman to be recognized as one of the top players in the National League, but he was. He did win a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger but few acknowledged just how good he was at the plate and in the field. Injuries and age have robbed us of witnessing a great player and the current Zimmerman is a shadow of a truer past Zimmerman. I do believe that the old Zimmerman can return, not for an extended period of time, but for a short burst, a sprint through October. Zimmerman isn't as good as he once was, but for a few weeks in October he can be as good as he ever was and that will make a difference in how long the Nats last in October.

David Huzzard blogs about the Nationals at Citizens of Natstown. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHuzzard. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our regular roster of writers.