Nats missing Zimmerman

How much can one man change how a team performs? Depends how you look at it. The facts are these: the Nationals are 33-19 when Ryan Zimmerman is in the starting lineup this season. Without him, they're 25-30. Since Zimmerman landed on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain a week and a half ago, the Nats are 3-6. In those nine games, they've scored 27 runs and haven't hit a homer. Yes, the Nats miss Zimmerman. Yes, he's a big part of their lineup, both in terms of production and how his presence deepens the batting order. But the Nats will be without Zimmerman for a while because of his Grade 3 hamstring strain. And so they know they'll have to pick things up in his absence. "You just can't replace a guy like Ryan Zimmerman," Jayson Werth said. "So yeah, we're going to miss him. But we're going to have to pick up, we're going to have to make do, we're going to have to win games without him. It's just what good teams do. They make adjustments and pick each other up." While the Nats have been successful with Zimmerman in their lineup this season and the results haven't been nearly as impressive when he's been out, it could certainly be argued that those numbers are a bit fluky. In his 53 games played this season, Zimmerman has hit .282/.345/.456 with five homers and 36 RBIs. Solid numbers, sure. But not game-changing, what-are-we-going-to-do-without-this-guy offensive production. Zimmerman was starting to heat up in the weeks before his injury in Denver, hitting .387 with a 1.050 OPS in the 17 games leading up to that hamstring pull. He was starting to come around, and the Nats were starting to really click. But Zimmerman would certainly tell you that one man does not make this offense go. The Nats are loaded with other capable, proven offensive performers, and they'll rely on those guys over the next handful of weeks. Asdrubal Cabrera was brought in just before the trade deadline to add more of an offensive punch, and he struck the ball well three times last night, hitting three line drives right at Phillies defenders. We'll see how much of an impact Cabrera can make offensively, as the Nats try and get out of this rut. They likely won't have Zimmerman for at least another few weeks, so they'll need to find a way to improve that record without the Face of the Franchise in the lineup.