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Nationals-Giants Preview

May 12, 2009 - 7:02 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Washington (10-20) at San Francisco (17-14), 10:15 p.m. EDT

For a guy that entered this season a career .282 hitter, Ryan Zimmerman is sure making it look easy at the plate.

Coming off his best game of the season, Zimmerman looks to extend his hitting streak to 30 games on Tuesday night when the Washington Nationals continue their three-game series against the San Francisco Giants.

In Monday's 11-7 loss to San Francisco (17-14), Zimmerman ran his hitting streak to 29 games with a first-inning single off Randy Johnson, who earned his 298th career victory.

Zimmerman wasn't done then. The Nationals third baseman finished 4 for 5 with two home runs and a season-high four RBIs, improving to 48 for 126 (.381) since the streak began. He's one game shy of the majors' first 30-game hitting streak since Moises Alou did it in late 2007.

Zimmerman's been at his best since the calendar turned to May, going 23 for 45 (.511) with three home runs, four doubles and 10 RBIs in 10 games this month. He's also 9 for 17 in four games at San Francisco since the start of last season - all Washington (10-20) losses - and 3 for 13 with a homer and a double lifetime versus Tuesday's scheduled starter Matt Cain (3-1, 2.61 ERA).

Similarly to Zimmerman, the Giants are also coming off their best offensive game of the season. San Francisco produced its biggest run total of the year and had a season-high seven walks to go with 14 hits.

Randy Winn had three hits and scored three runs for San Francisco, which improved to 11-4 at home. Winn is 7 for 10 with three RBIs and seven runs in his last two games after going 6 for 28 (.214) with three RBIs and one run in his first nine games this month.

The Giants have won 14 of 20 and are three games over .500 for the first time since May 7, 2007. They haven't been four games over the break-even mark this late in the season since July 22, 2006, when they were 51-47.

Cain, who has allowed two runs or less in five of his six starts, has been outstanding against the Nationals lately, posting a 0.42 ERA in winning all three of his starts against them since 2007. In his last start against Washington on July 24, Cain threw a four-hitter in San Francisco's 1-0 victory at AT&T Park.

Cain wasn't very sharp at Colorado on Thursday - walking four of the first six batters he faced - before settling down. The right-hander retired nine of the last 10 he faced and ended up allowing one hit in six shutout innings of an 8-3 win.

"You don't want to go out there and walk that many people," said Cain, who had season highs in strikeouts (seven) and walks (five). "I was just a little bit ahead of myself."

The Nationals counter with rookie Jordan Zimmermann (2-1, 5.48), who makes his first start against the Giants.

Zimmermann allowed six runs - all in the first inning - and six hits in six innings of an 11-9 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, but did not factor in the decision. The right-hander has given up 11 runs in 11 2-3 innings over his last two outings after allowing three runs in 11 1-3 innings in winning his first two career starts.