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Nationals-Giants Preview

May 13, 2009 - 6:50 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Washington (10-21) at San Francisco (18-14), 3:45 p.m. EDT

Ryan Zimmerman is in position to tie the Washington Nationals' franchise record for longest hitting streak. Despite that, he's still a member of the worst team in the majors.

Zimmerman will have to deal with a revitalized Barry Zito in an attempt to help the Nationals avoid their 10th consecutive loss to the San Francisco Giants in the finale of their three-game series Wednesday.

Zimmerman is looking to get a hit in his 31st consecutive game, which would tie the franchise mark set by Vladimir Guerrero in 1999 with Montreal. The third baseman's streak is also the longest since Philadelphia's Chase Utley put together a 35-game run in 2006.

The Nationals (10-21), though, continued their futility against the Giants (17-14) with a 9-7 loss Tuesday. Zimmerman singled in the first inning, but reliever Joe Beimel gave up a three-run walk-off homer to Pablo Sandoval as Washington lost its third in a row.

The Nats' bullpen is the worst in the NL with a 6.02 ERA.

"We've tried everybody and their cousins, and we still can't get anybody to put up a zero up there in the eighth and ninth inning," manager Manny Acta said.

Zimmerman has a .382 batting average with eight homers and 26 RBIs since being held without a hit in a loss at Florida on April 7. He'll now have to contend with Zito (1-2, 3.57 ERA), who is 1-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his last four starts despite getting only six total runs of support.

That strong stretch from the left-hander has given San Francisco some hope that he can rediscover the form that helped him win the 2002 AL Cy Young Award with Oakland, eventually leading to his seven-year, $126-million contract from the Giants during December 2006.

Zito struggled in his first two seasons since moving across the bay, going 21-30 with a 4.83 ERA in 66 games and was briefly moved to the bullpen last year. He started 2009 in similar fashion, losing his first two starts while giving up 10 runs and 11 hits in nine innings, but has since helped the Giants to wins in each of his last four outings.

He got his first win of the season Friday, allowing one run and eight hits with five strikeouts in six innings to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1.

"I'm more focused than I've been in a handful of years," Zito told the Giants' official Web site. "I knew that I could still be productive as a pitcher in this game. The last couple of months of each of the past two seasons I've shown that, but this year I wanted to do it from the beginning and not dig myself a hole."

Zito is 2-1 with a 4.03 ERA in five starts against Washington. Sandoval is 5 for 9 with four RBIs in this series.

The Nationals' Shairon Martis (4-0, 4.67) will look to win his third consecutive start in his first appearance against San Francisco.

The right-hander also is looking for some better results on the road, where he's 1-0 with an 8.78 ERA compared to a 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA in three home starts.

Still, Martis was solid Friday, allowing three runs and nine hits with six strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings of a 5-4 win at Arizona. That came after the best outing of his brief career on May 2, when he threw a five-hitter in a 6-1 home win over St. Louis for his first complete game.