Zimmermann looks good for Tuesday, Roark bumped up to Saturday night

Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann will start Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies in Denver if everything goes well during his throwing this week. Zimmermann left last Friday's game at Philadelphia in the fourth inning with a right biceps cramp. An MRI revealed a biceps strain. He was not place on the disabled list. Zimmermann threw from 100 feet yesterday and will throw longer yardage today. Manager Matt Williams confirmed that Zimmermann is good to go and outlined this week's plan. "Yeah, he's going to throw a bullpen tomorrow (to) make sure," Williams said. "Last night, he felt good. Long toss today. Bullpen tomorrow. He reported yesterday to the workout and said he felt fine. We'll have to take those steps, but should be good." And Tuesday will be his next start? "That's the plan," Williams said. "From the tests and everything that was done to determine what it could be, being in the belly of the muscle gives you the indication that it's not something that's ligament-related or shoulder-related. "All those tests came back fine. So more confident than you would be otherwise. But he's an important part of our team so we want to make sure that he's good to go and we have to take those steps to do so. Bullpen tomorrow will tell us a lot." Williams said the "belly" of the muscle is the middle of the muscle. That is where Zimmermann felt the cramp. "Nothing after yesterday, and we'll see how he is today after long toss and certainly tomorrow after the bullpen," Williams said. The team announced that Tanner Roark will starts Saturday night instead of Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez will instead start Sunday. Williams said it was a travel issue and nothing more that adjusted the rotation schedule against the Brewers. "Gio, one of his connecting flights was cancelled," Williams said. "So he didn't get here in time for the workout. So therefore he couldn't throw his bullpen, so he has got to do that today. So we had to move Tanner up a day. That's the only reason." Williams confirmed that the plane Gonzalez was supposed to take had mechanical issues. "He could've pitched tomorrow without throwing a bullpen, but we don't want to do that," Williams said. "We want to make sure. Tanner will go to tomorrow and Gio Sunday." Williams will give Doug Fister extra days off. So the rotation lines up with Stephen Strasburg, Roark and then Gonzalez against Milwaukee. To begin the Colorado series, Fister gets the start Monday and Zimmermann on Tuesday. Williams said the team had a spirited two-hour workout Thursday night at Nationals Park. You could see the lights from the stadium on as planes landed at Reagan National. They had batting practice, pitchers fielding practice and infield work.