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Washington Nationals' skipper Davey Johnson told reporters Ian Desmond had an "oblique tear" and would be headed to the DL after yesterday's win over Atlanta, but the team made the move official this afternoon, reporting via Twitter @NationalsPR that the 26-year-old shortstop had been placed on the 15-Day DL. The Nats' manager also let slip the news about the Nationals calling OF Corey Brown up from Triple-A and then immediately "regretted" having said so, joking with reporters, "I probably shouldn't even be talking because of Twitter and then he'll know before anybody else knows." The news did make the rounds on Twitter a full twenty-four hours before the move was officially announced this afternoon:
Nationals have officially placed SS Ian Desmond on the 15-Day DL, retro to July 22, and recalled OF Corey Brown from Syracuse. #oblique
— Nationals PR (@NationalsPR) July 23, 2012
In In 92 games and 426 plate appearances before last night, Brown, 26, has a .300/.384/.559 line with 19 doubles, seven triples and 21 HR's. The outfielder will (or likely has already) joined the Nationals in New York where they'll take on the Mets tonight. Desmond, according to his manager, will rest for two weeks before having his oblique reexamined.
• Ryan Zimmerman NL POTW: The Nationals also announced this afternoon that third baseman Ryan Zimmerman had been named the NL Player of the Week after hitting .444 over the last seven days:
Per @MLB_PR, Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman named NL Player of the Week. Zim hit .444 with 2B, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 7 runs & 1.426 OPS to earn award.
— Nationals PR (@NationalsPR) July 23, 2012
In 25 games and 113 plate appearances since he had a cortisone shot on June 24th, Zimmerman is 40 for 102, (.392/.451/.804) with nine doubles and 11 HR's over that stretch. The hot stretch lifted Zim from .218/.285/.305 overall to .273/.338/.463 heading into action tonight in Citi Field.