Ryan Zimmerman, The Examiner
2007-08-24 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

We have been in Houston since Monday and last night finished a four-game series. This is our longest road trip of the season and the travel can really wear on a player sometimes. Not that we complain about it, too much. But you have to prepare yourself for it so it doesn’t take too big of a toll.

As an example, after a night game in Houston the bus will leave the stadium about an hour after the game. That means for a 7 p.m. start - and a three-hour game - we head to the airport around 11:00. Add some time for travel and the security screening and we’ll be in the air after midnight. With the time change we land in Colorado at 1:30 a.m. at the earliest and then bus to the hotel. That’s an unusual schedule, but only because most of the time we have an afternoon game on a get-away day.

Each guy has to figure out what’s best for himself when we travel like this. You have to get the right amount of sleep and eat correctly even though dinner is late at night. It’s the little things that get you, though - a hotel bed that’s too hard or too soft and leaves you with a stiff back or a sore neck. I’m lucky because I can sleep pretty much anywhere.

We get to the stadium a little later on the road because the home team has batting practice first. But our hotel is almost always by a mall or a movie theatre. This is our only 10-game trip of the year. We finished with Houston. Tonight we start a three-game series in Colorado and then head to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers. We had a nine-game road trip earlier this season in San Diego, Milwaukee and Chicago. The other nine-game trip was broken up because we had three games so close to home in Baltimore.

It can be a relief to go on the road, though. Especially for me, living close to where I grew up in Virginia Beach. There are always things going on when we play at home. On the road you get a chance to just hang out with your teammates. It’s quiet and a little more relaxed. For six or seven days that’s not a bad thing at all. Coming to the park every day with this team is so much fun, anyway. That makes it a lot easier.

As told to The Examiner’s Brian McNally.

Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is one of baseball’s rising stars and, at 22, the face of the franchise. Now he’ll share his thoughts with The Examiner’s readers each week throughout the baseball season.