Baker has no plans to bench struggling Zimmerman

Dusty Baker hears the question a lot these days, from all variety of sources: At some point, is he going to bench Ryan Zimmerman, who is mired in a season-long slump?

Baker understands why people ask him that. But his response is clear: He's going to keep playing Zimmerman as much as possible, because he knows the Nationals' chances of success are far greater with a productive Zimmerman in the lineup than out of it.

"See, this guy is a carrier," Baker said. "There are carriers and there are helpers. And a helper can help you for so long, but a carrier can carry you a week to 10 days. You've seen him, right? A couple weeks would be all we need, especially at the right time. We're just trying to make some adjustments and help him through this, and keep his confidence."

Zimmerman enters tonight's game against the Mets batting .213 with a .269 on-base percentage and a .368 slugging percentage, all career lows. He struck out with the bases loaded during Monday night's win, leaving him a staggering 0-for-11 with six strikeouts and two sacrifice flies in those situations this year.

And the veteran first baseman hasn't experienced competing peaks and valleys along the way. His best month came in May, when he hit .262 with seven homers. But his month-to-month performance since then has been consistently poor: a .188 batting average in June, .190 in July, .182 in August, .176 in September.

Baker has given Zimmerman some days off along the way, and he thought about sitting him tonight against Noah Syndergaard, just as he did when the Nationals faced the All-Star right-hander 11 days ago in New York. But after a conversation Monday night, Baker decided to stick with his struggling veteran.

"I was wrestling about whether I'd play him tonight against Noah Syndergaard or not, because I've been kind of ducking him against Noah Syndergaard," the manager said. "You know, when you're in the playoffs, you can't duck against anybody. So I talked to him last night. ... I'm hoping he has a big night tonight, or does something to change the impact of the game."

Baker believes the most important thing he can do right now to help Zimmerman is to continue showing confidence in him.

"I've got to play Zim enough to keep his confidence up and let him know that I have confidence in him," the manager said. "Because we need Zim. Without putting undue pressure on him. He's already putting pressure on himself. When he got that base hit up the middle (Monday night), I saw him look up to the heavens. He was so thankful. It's hard not to.

"I think guys are pulling for him harder than anybody on the team. Because they've seen what Zim can do. I've seen it from the other side. I haven't seen it here. But one thing's for sure: You're not going to (snap out of it) on the bench."

Baker also doesn't buy any discussion of whether Zimmerman, who turns 32 later this month, is already in the inescapable decline phase of his career.

"You can't forget what the feeling was when you were going well," he said. "It seems like years ago, but it wasn't that long ago. And he's certainly not old. He's been banged up, but he ain't old, and he's not ... overweight. When guys get overweight in the midsection, they usually slow down. I don't see that in him."