In last night's 8-4 loss to the Mets, Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman slid hard to second base and seemed to have been in pain.
Zimmerman is too important to the team, and was scratched from the lineup today, and will continue to be monitored through Tuesday, Mike Rizzo said:
"It's about the same concern level we've had since opening day, through spring training," Rizzo said. "He's got an ab strain, and he's been playing with it. We're going to give him two days here and see where he's at afterwards."
If it's the case that Zimmerman will be out of the lineup for more than just this game, it could be costly for the Nats. They are already trying to manage first baseman Adam LaRoche's shoulder injury, and having to manage Zimmerman's ab strain would certainly make things difficult on an offense that needs to improve.
Through eight games, Zimmerman has a .357 batting average with one homerun and four runs driven in.