WASHINGTON -- On the same day he was officially placed on the disabled list, retroactive to May 26, for the first time in his career, Ryan Zimmerman faced the media to speak about the injury, a slightly torn labrum in his left shoulder. Upbeat through the press conference, Zimmerman said there was no timetable for his return, though he said he'd like to avoid surgery if at all possible.

Two doctors, James Andrews and Timothy Kremchek, returned second and third opinions on Zimmerman's shoulder on Tuesday. Their diagnosis and treatments matched the Washington medical staff's diagnosis, with both recommending that Zimmerman rest for a week and take anti-inflammatories and be reexamined after that time.

Zimmerman had missed several games in a row after injuring the shoulder sliding into second.

Zimmerman said that he was frustrated beyond just not being able to play. He said he and the rest of the Nationals recognize their recent struggles, and he said it bothers him that he can't help.

"We've worked hard," Zimmerman said. "To have so many people get hurt, it's really not what our team is, the kind of team like we've been playing lately."

Zimmerman said the pain really started getting to him on May 24 against Milwaukee. However, he said he didn't realize how bad it was until he took a scheduled day off that Sunday and still felt pain on Monday morning.

"I like to believe that I have a pretty good threshold for playing with pain, but this is just a little different," Zimmerman said. "You guys know I want to be here to play for a long time, and there's no reason to go out and maybe do something to make things worse."

Manager Manny Acta said before Tuesday's game that the Nationals would likely replace Zimmerman for the short term with Aaron Boone. However, he said Boone would not be the everyday third baseman, because of concerns about his surgically repaired knee. Rather, Acta said Boone would likely be spelled at different points by Willie Harris, Ronnie Belliard -- expected to return soon from injury -- and Kory Casto, recently recalled from Triple-A Columbus, where he was batting over .300.

"Every problem has a solution," Acta said. "Everybody else has problems too, we've just gotta get out there and fight."

"I think if we could rehab," Zimmerman said, "and get to the point where if I'm gonna have to get surgery, if we could get to the point where I could play the rest of the year and be sure that I won't hurt anything, I think that would be the plan that I would want to go."

When asked how much it would hurt his club to lose Zimmerman, Acta admitted he wasn't sure, because he hasn't had to deal with it before.

"I can't tell you, because I haven't had it yet," Acta said. "Obviously, it's not going to be easy."