"Today marks the opening of baseball's award season, with all the coveted hardware handed out over the next two weeks. It begins at 3:30 this afternoon with the announcement of the AL Gold Glove winners, and ends Nov. 23 with the AL most valuable player award.

For Nationals fans, the day that matters is tomorrow. That's when the the NL Gold Gloves, along with the Silver Slugger Awards for both leagues, are announced. And once again, it stands to be a big day for Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

A year ago, Zimmerman was doubly rewarded for his breakout 2009 season, earning both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards for NL third basemen, and joining Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp as the only NL players to win both.

One year later, Zimmerman has cemented his credentials as the premier third baseman in his league, and for that matter, one of the best players in the game. Despite missing a total of 20 games with various ailments, by at least one metric (Fangraphs.com's WAR, or wins above replacement) he actually contributed more to the Nationals' cause than he did in 2009.

On the surface, Zimmerman sure looks like a safe bet to pull off another Silver-and-Gold double-play. In terms of his offense, he led all qualifying NL third basemen in batting average (.307), on-base percentage (.388), slugging percentage (.510) and walks (69). New York's David Wright, who hit more homers and drove in more runs than Zimmerman (and who won the Silver Slugger in 2007 and 2008) represents his primary competition, but Zimmernan's 40-point edge in OPS ought to be enough to carry him."