Zimmerman not taking chances with back injury (Nats down 4-2)

DENVER - Ryan Zimmerman celebrated his 34th birthday today by getting treatment on his ailing back and then bundling up to watch from the dugout as the Nationals faced the Rockies on a 51-degree late-September evening at Coors Field.

Zimmerman was not in the Nats lineup two days after he tweaked his back on a swing in the team's home finale, an injury that forced him to come out of the game after two at-bats. He hoped to play tonight, but common sense told him it wasn't worth it.

"It's nothing terrible," he said. "It's just to the point now where do you want to play and risk doing something worse to it, and then spend the first month or six weeks of the offseason rehabbing? Which doesn't sound great. We'll see how it feels the next couple days, but it's nothing terrible. It's just one of those things where if we were in a different situation, it would probably be playable. But it's not the smartest thing to do."

Indeed, if the Nationals had more at stake in this final weekend, Zimmerman would do whatever he needed to do to be in the lineup. But at this point, all they're doing is trying to win once more to secure a seventh consecutive winning season, and potentially keep the Rockies from making the postseason.

Zimmerman wouldn't rule out the possibility he returns to play at some point the next two days, but he understandably doesn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

"We'll see how it feels each day," he said. "We're not going to risk it. I wouldn't go out and play these three games with the realization that you could do something to set you back in the offseason. It doesn't really make sense."

A healthy offseason is critical to Zimmerman. After missing nearly 2 1/2 months with an oblique strain, he returned strong and was productive during the second half while avoiding any significant injuries. In 52 games since coming off the disabled list, he's batting .295 with eight homers, 35 RBIs, a .374 on-base percentage and .911 OPS.

Now the veteran first baseman is determined to enjoy a normal winter, which he believes would position himself to enter 2019 in his best possible shape.

"It's real important," he said. "If you have to get healthy before you start doing stuff, it's more of a pain than anything. You have time, obviously. It's just one of those things where to be able to go into the offseason and be healthy and be able to do whatever you want to do and not have to worry about dealing with something you shouldn't have to deal with, it's huge going into spring training."

Update: The Nationals are having little trouble getting on base tonight against Kyle Freeland, a fringe Cy Young Award candidate. They've got nine hits and a walk through four innings against the lefty. For three innings, though, that didn't lead to any runs. Finally in the fourth, someone delivered in the clutch. Trea Turner sent a fly ball to deep right-center, just out of the reach of Charlie Blackmon, and two runs scored as Turner raced around to third base. That gave the Nats a 2-1 lead, making up for Blackmon's solo homer off Joe Ross in the bottom of the third. Ross has otherwise been strong through his first four innings.

Update II: Well, that didn't hold up well. The Rockies blasted Ross for back-to-back homers in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead. Old pal Ian Desmond sent the first one flying to right-center to make it 3-2. Moments later, Chris Iannetta absolutely crushed a pitch from Ross 469 feet to left-center field to make it 4-2.