Our team feels like it is back on track after the 8-3 homestand we put together last week. Probably the biggest part of that success is how well our starting pitchers are performing.

Pitching and defense win in baseball. Just look at the playoffs every year. I think going into spring training this season we had a little better idea about our rotation — as long as guys were healthy.

Tim Redding and Odalis Perez have been consistent almost every time out for us and also use their experience to help younger pitchers like Matt Chico and John Lannan. Redding probably has the most guts of any pitcher we have. Perez has been a tough-luck loser a couple of times. But he keeps giving us a chance to win and isn’t the kind of guy who comes into the clubhouse angry because he pitched well and didn’t get a win.

Everyone knows Shawn Hill was still dealing with forearm pain early in the season. But 90 percent of Shawn is better than 100 percent from most other pitchers. We play almost every day — or every fifth day — for six months, so baseball is a game where you’re forced to play through pain. That’s just the nature of the sport. But for a pitcher to do that takes a certain mindset. Shawn’s competitiveness is off the charts, so we knew he’d find a way to get through that and keep pitching. You build your team around guys like that.

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The effort from our rotation gives us a little extra motivation at the plate, too. They’re working their butts off and we want to reward them. Thankfully, we’ve been swinging the bats a lot better the last couple of games. Everything is starting to click for us and we want to make sure that continues.

As told to The Examiner’s Brian McNally.

Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is one of baseball’s rising stars and, at 23, the face of the franchise. Now he’ll share his thoughts with The Examiner’s readers each week throughout the baseball season.