Day off for Zim with shoulder discomfort

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Davey Johnson has felt all along that Ryan Zimmerman's surgically repaired right shoulder wouldn't be 100 percent healthy until sometime in midseason, so the Nationals manager wasn't particularly surprised when his third baseman noted some discomfort in that shoulder last week.

"I said in the spring that with as hard as he's been working with it, it was going to take him at least until the middle of June to where he'd get over the hump with his shoulder," Johnson said. "I think we're pretty close."

Close, but not all the way there yet, so Zimmerman got a rare night off Tuesday to let the shoulder rest.

Johnson insisted Zimmerman would be available to pinch-hit in this game and that he'd be back in the lineup Wednesday. But after hearing the veteran slugger mention the discomfort a few days ago, Johnson decided to find a break in the schedule for him. Since the Nationals also had Monday off, Zimmerman is getting a full 48 hours to rest.
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