Is cortisone the greatest drug every invented? Ryan Zimmerman might think so after a shot administered to the AC joint in his painful right shoulder has led to the third baseman’s best stretch of the season. An earlier shot helped for a time after Zimmerman went on the 15-day disabled list on April 27. But by late May it was clear the effects had worn off and by June 18 he was batting .218 and there was talk of dropping him down in the batting order.
Scratch all that. Zimmerman is 17-for-45 (.378 batting average) since that cortisone shot on June 24 in Baltimore. He has five doubles and a four home runs, including another one on Wednesday in a 9-4 win over San Francisco at Nationals Park. He also has 16 RBI during that stretch. Is this sustainable? Is the pain manageable?
“We’ll find out. Hopefully. I don’t know. I wish I knew the answer,” Zimmerman said.
Nats manager Davey Johnson said team doctors have told them more than one cortisone shot every month or so is about the limit. And while Zimmerman has made some adjustments at the plate – no different than when he’s trying to break out of any normal slump – even he admits the shot has done its job: Reduce the inflammation in his AC joint and allow him the physical ability to make those minor adjustments in his swing in the first place. The effects are jarring, though. Zimmerman is ripping the ball to all fields.
“I was playing banged up for a while there and when you try and play through things sometimes it doesn’t allow you to do the things that you’ve been doing,” Zimmerman said. “And that leads to other things and other things. So it’s definitely a lot better when you show up to the park and you feel healthy every day.”
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