Baker on Zimmerman struggles and Ross update

Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman's cold spell has continued longer than he or the Nats had hoped.

Manager Dusty Baker and Zimmerman pointed to August and September as the usual time of the season he gets rolling.

In his career, that has been true. Since 2005, Zimmerman has hit .308 in July, .302 in August and .293 in September/October. In his career, there are three months that he has hit 40 more home runs: May (45), August (44) and September/October (40). He has a combined 124 doubles in these last two months of the season during his career, more than any other two-month span.

But this season has been different. In his last seven games, he is hitting .103 (3-for-29) with no homers, no walks and eight strikeouts. In the last 30 games, Zimmerman is hitting .195 with 22 hits and 24 strikeouts.

On Sunday, Zimmerman struck out in his first three at-bats.

But the most telling stat for Zimmerman this season has been a weakness for the club on offense: delivering runners in scoring position. With RISP this season, Zimmerman has hit .176 in 59 games with only five extra-base hits. In those 103 plate appearances, he has 21 strikeouts and 15 total hits over 85 at-bats.

Manager Dusty Baker looked to diagnose Zimmerman's approach after the 0-for-4 Sunday in the 5-3 loss to the Rockies.

"I think he's chasing," Baker said. "I think he's overanxious because he's swinging at balls out of the zone. We just got get him back in the zone and get him concentrating. He's trying extremely hard, but I think he's trying too hard. We are talking to him, but you can't swing for anybody because they're up there at the plate by themselves."

Zimmerman began his career September 1, 2005. His birthday is September 28. Maybe this next month will help Zimmerman get some of his mojo back based on previous success this time of year.

* Right-hander Joe Ross pitched one inning to begin his rehab for the second time with Triple-A Syracuse. Three of the first four batters singled. Pawtucket then scored on a groundout. Despite throwing for just one inning, Ross (0-2) took the 6-0 loss. He allowed one run on three hits with no walks and one strikeout. He threw 21 pitches, 13 for strikes.

Chiefs play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown told me Ross hit 93-94 mph and was "pretty consistent." Ross is expected to pitch again on Thursday for Syracuse.