Robinson making the most of his rare opportunities

PHILADELPHIA - Dusty Baker constantly talks about how hard it is for players to be productive off the bench in the big leagues, how the lack of consistent at-bats makes it difficult to find a rhythm, even when there are rare opportunities to start games and step to the plate four or five times in one night.

Which perhaps makes Clint Robinson's performance of late all the more impressive.

Robinson hasn't seen a whole lot of action lately, not with the Nationals trying to give Ryan Zimmerman as much opportunity as possible to find his swing after a disappointing and injury-plagued season. But the 31-year-old (in the majors full-time for only two seasons) has made the most of it: After going 2-for-4 with an RBI during Monday night's 4-0 win over the Phillies, he's now hitting .368 with a .442 on-base percentage this month.

"It's hard, but it's necessary," Baker said. "Here's a guy that was 30 years old as a rookie. He works hard. He stays ready all the time. We need Clint and some of these guys to come off and do that for you. This is a big part of our success, how guys stay ready, how they work hard, how they come off the bench ready."

Robinson has been particularly productive of late when he's in the lineup. He has only started seven games this month, but in those games he's batting .385 (10-for-26) with four RBIs.

Clearly, his manager believes it's hard to do that. What does the player himself think?

"Not that hard, really, if you don't think about it," Robinson said. "It's not really that big of a deal, if you just approach it like you've been starting every day, and go about your work every day and try and keep the same routine, whether you're starting or not in the game."

This August surge has helped salvage what earlier felt like a frustrating season for Robinson. He entered the month sporting a .205 batting average and .266 on-base percentage. Today, those numbers have jumped up to .244 and .308.

"I don't really worry about stats or anything like that," he said. "Especially being a bench guy, they can fluctuate pretty easily. I still think I probably have less than 200 at-bats - he has 183 plate appearances, 160 at-bats - so a good game can raise you a lot, and it can drag you down. So numbers aren't really important. Just going out there and helping the team when I get a chance and getting the win, that's all that matters."