Nationals News, Tommy Zimmermann Edition

  The news hasn't been made official yet (they're still waiting on one more doctor to confirm), but the expectation is that rookie Jordan Zimmermann will undergo Tommy John surgery in the very near future. Tommy John surgery is relatively common; in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, approximately one in nine pitchers had undergone the procedure (incidentally, that link is a very good read about the process). Most of the time, pitchers are able to recover and return to pre-surgery form, but that's not always the case. Unfortunately, it's impossible to predict how Zimmermann will recover from the surgery, but based on his skill level (three "plus-plus" pitches is incredible when you generally need just two to be a Hall of Famer) and his dedication to the game, I have no doubt he'll be back and ready to go in 2011.

  Despite likely losing Zimmermann for the rest of the season, there is good news for the Nationals' pitchers: Drew Storen was promoted to AA Harrisburg. He's still going to need to prove himself there, and then at the AAA level, but there's hope that we may see a bit of him toward the end of this season.

  Chico Harlan has hopped aboard the Riggleman Express, pointing to Riggleman's tirade on July 24 as the cause of the Nationals' miraculous turnaround.

  The Nationals signed five players from the Dominican Republic: an infielder, an outfielder and three pitchers. There has been precious little information given about them, but the Nationals must be hoping they've struck gold given the Zimmermann situation.

  Finally, thanks to all of you who went out and donated blood this past weekend. Hopefully you stuck around for the Nationals' win, but even if you didn't you helped contribute a record-breaking 252 pints of blood for the Red Cross.