Zimmerman on his hamstring: "It keeps feeling better and better each day"

The deeper the Nationals are able to go into the playoffs, the more Ryan Zimmerman's right hamstring will have a chance to get back to full strength.

For now, Zimmerman will have to continue plugging away, hoping he can get healthy as soon as possible and willing to contribute as much as he can prior to that.

Zimmerman took part in yesterday's intrasquad scrimmage at Nationals Park, playing left field and getting some at-bats to continue to try and hone his timing. He then took BP and shagged fly balls during today's workout, and looked good in the process, moving quickly in the outfield and seemingly with more confidence in his right leg.

"It keeps feeling better and better each day," Zimmerman said after today's workout. "The more time we have, the better it's gonna get. So every day makes it better. It's not significantly better than it was four or five days ago (at the end of the regular season), but every day helps."

In his eight games after returning from the DL on September 20, Zimmerman went 5-for-19 with a walk. His lone extra-base hit was a triple to shallow right that was overrun by Marlins right fielder Reed Johnson, and four of Zimmerman's five hits went the other way.

We're used to seeing Zimmerman rip the ball to the pull side, and make hard contact to the center of the diamond and right-center. Zimmerman says the hits to the right side weren't a matter of his health or a specific approach over the last couple of weeks, but more what he was seeing from opposing pitchers.

"It was more just the pitches that I hit," he said. "I didn't get too many pitches to the middle-in part of the plate to drive that way. If they're gonna throw balls that way, that's really the only chance I have to get hits. I'm sure that'll change the more that I get at-bats and the more people challenge me inside, because that's the way people pitch me."

Zimmerman's role for the National League Division Series has yet to be announced. Matt Williams said today that he sees opportunities for Zimmerman to get into games in matchup situations, but exactly what those situations will be is still unclear. Zimmerman still hasn't played third base since returning from the DL (which is the most likely position at which he would get a start in this series), and it appears that he'll probably be used as a bat off the bench, at least in this round.

One thing that does remain clear is that Zimmerman will help out wherever he's needed.

"I haven't talked to Matt yet, but just like I did when I came back, I'm here to do whatever it takes to help us win," Zimmerman said. "If that's coming off the bench, if that's playing left, if that's playing first, if that's playing third, everyone in this clubhouse is here to win games, especially now. I'm no different than anyone else."