I might be on the disabled list for a while longer, but I’m still with the team all the time. I made the nine-game road trip to Pittsburgh, Seattle and Minnesota that just ended yesterday. It was fun, but we all wish we could have won at least one game in Minnesota and finished with a winning record. Any time you can find a way to do that on the road you feel good about things.

My teammate Austin Kearns also made the trip even though he’s still on the disabled list after elbow surgery. But really it’s just nice for both of us to be around the guys. Nick Johnson would have come, too, except he had to get the cast taken off his injured wrist. When the team is on the road like that, I could probably continue to do the rehabilitation exercises for my shoulder as easily at home. But sitting around watching the games on television is tough. You always feel like you could be out there helping.

Injuries have hit us hard. The only good thing is that we’re still a young team and other younger players have had a chance to gain some confidence. Guys like Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes and Jesus Flores want to be good players in this league. How they develop is a big part of what kind of team we’re going to be in a few years.

When you’re put in a different position — like having to carry the load on offense with so many people hurt — it challenges you to become better. You can see their confidence growing, especially Jesus. No one really saw him doing this well before the season. But he’s proving he belongs in the big leagues. You learn a lot about your team on a long road trip like that, which is good because we have two more nine-game trips later this summer. But for now it’s nice to be back home.

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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.