Zimmerman back in lineup, latest on Span and Zimmermann

Manager Matt Williams installed Ryan Zimmerman in the No. 2 spot in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Mets. He will play left field. It is his second start since returning from a severe right hamstring strain. "We're going to bubble wrap him as much as possible," Williams said. "I'd like to see him get 5 ABs and hit a couple of doubles and score from second and do all the things he needs to do to be able to feel good about it." Williams said they will check on Zimmerman even after today's warmups to see if he is good to go. "He's going to go take BP and make sure that everything feels OK," Williams said. "Felt fine to pinch-hit last night and ran down the first base line fine. Didn't really have to go. We'll monitor him and he knows that on any given play that he's not going to push it out there tonight. We'll see. It's important for him to get at-bats." Zimmerman was going to try to get into some games at third base before the playoffs begin, but with soreness from Saturday they do not want to push it. "The plan was to have him play some infield," Williams said. "But given the soreness in there after the game he played, we're being cautious in that regard too. It's more demanding in the infield certainly than it is in the outfield. He can monitor his gait, and things like that. In the outfield, going for a ball, he's got help. In the infield he may have to make a very quick movement that is natural for him. So, we want to make sure that he's OK before he does that." Is there time before Oct. 3 to get Zimmerman enough at-bats? "I think it's realistic," Williams said. "He's one of those guys that's really ready quickly. He does have timing, things that go on in his swing, with the leg kick and all of that timing that is important to him. But he does have fantastic hand eye coordination. He's just a professional hitter, he knows how to hit. "So I think he will be fine in six games. My experience with him this year is, certainly spring training, he was ready in two days. When he came back from his thumb he started off fairly well. The last game he played is an indication of what he can do with limited at-bats in his rehab process. He'll be fine." Zimmerman said he is so far, so good after 1 1/2 games testing the hamstring. "It feels good. It's been sore," Zimmerman said. "That's what we expected. We'll see how it goes the rest of this week." What does Zimmerman think about batting second tonight against the Mets. "Yeah, it's more to get at-bats too and then moving forward, depending on how it feels, hopefully get a chance to play all over the place and see what we do going forward." He doesn't want to rush it back to third base and is fine playing left field for now. Williams said Zimmerman could even play some first base. Zimmerman knows the ball comes at him lightning quick when he is standing in at third base. "That's the toughest position for me with reaction time and the quick movements, but it's felt OK," Zimmerman said. "I haven't played in the game there, I played a little bit down in Florida. That's definitely a position where I am going to have to move laterally and obviously if people were to bunt, slow rollers, I'd have to come in pretty quickly." Does Zimmerman believe he has enough games left to feel good all the way around for the postseason? "I hope there's enough time," Zimmerman said. "But we'll try to get as many at-bats as we can. On the other hand, I can't go out and kill myself right now either because I don't know if I'm ready for that right now. It's kind of a fine line between both of those." Williams gave center fielder Denard Span the day off after banging his knee up pretty good on a diving catch Tuesday night. "He's fine, a little scraped up from last night and a little sore from banging it," Williams said. "He landed awkwardly on the track and banged his knee good. There's no cause for alarm regarding structural anything in there. He's just a little sore. We decided to give him the day. He'll be fine in the next couple." Williams said Span might also miss tomorrow's game as well. He also said Span would play tonight if it had been a Game 5. Williams confirmed that pitcher Jordan Zimmermann is still feeling the bruising and soreness in his right shoulder after getting hit with a batted ball last weekend in Miami. "It's there, it's there, it's still a little bit swollen," Willaims said. "He'll go out and throw again and make sure that he's feeling OK. Took a pretty good lick to that shoulder. Again, the good thing is there's nothing involved with the tendon up front. It was kind of on the back side. It's just a question of that swelling and bruising getting out of there."