Nats' star Ryan Zimmerman's AP diary: Memories of day games

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ryan Zimmerman is a two-time All-Star infielder who has played 15 seasons in the majors, all with the Washington Nationals, helping them win the World Series last year. With baseball on hold, Zimmerman is offering his thoughts -- as told to AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich -- in a diary of sorts. In the fourth installment, Zimmerman discusses what it might have been like to be at Nationals Park on Thursday, when Washington was scheduled to host the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1:05 p.m. in a rematch of last season’s NL Division Series.

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For me, especially for day games, you can’t recreate walking through the tunnel -- the sound, the sight, the feel.

For a 1 o’clock home game on a weekday — no batting practice — I usually leave my house at around 9:15, so I can get behind traffic. I drive in and get to the field by 9:45 or 10, and then I’m basically inside.

A quick breakfast, and I’m right into my routine.

Training room -- anything I need to do there -- and weight room. And then you’re pretty much getting ready: getting dressed for the game, hitting in the indoor batting cage underneath the stands. I also do all of my defensive daily work in those cages.

We’re basically in a cave for those 3 hours until game time.

The first time I go outside for a day game is when I go through that tunnel from the clubhouse to the dugout and come out and go up the stairs -- see the sunshine or smell the ballpark food or hear the fans as you run onto the field for a 5-minute warmup.

And the thing about day games? Sometimes, honestly, you don’t feel that good.

Day games are real tough if you had a night game the night before. Maybe it went a little late, one of those longer games that are tougher to rebound from.

You’re maybe not getting to bed until...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Nats-star-Ryan-Zimmerman-s-AP-diary-Memories-of-15221461.php