July 3, 2006

Under The Knife

Newberg Recap

by Will Carroll

Printer-friendly

It was my third year as a guest of Jamey Newberg and his Newberg Report crew, and each year it gets bigger and better. There's not much better than something that combines an hour of Q&A with GM Jon Daniels, the sponsorship of a 5-year-old cancer patient's night of a lifetime at the ballpark, and a hot, humid night of baseball. There really is no other community and team that have a better relationship with each other. That's a testament to Jamey Newberg, but also something of an indictment of other teams. I can't think of a team that couldn't use a better relationship with its most passionate fans. I was just happy to be a part of it again this year, and can't wait for next time.

Powered by a crowd of 350 at Newberg Night at Ameriquest, on to the injuries:

• Apparently mops are one more thing that the Marlins didn't spend money on this year. The Mets will pay the price after Pedro Martinez slipped on a wet clubhouse floor during a game at Dolphin Stadium, putting more pressure on his problematic hip. Martinez will miss his scheduled start Monday and could miss his next start due to the ASB. There's really nothing new wrong with Martinez; he has a strained hip flexor that is healing slowly due to his continued use of the muscle. Rest and treatment will help, but it's more likely that Martinez and the Mets will continue to deal with this injury.

• When I watched Kevin Millwood pitch last night--or should I say get torched--it looked like he wasn't loose and wasn't bending his back. He left the game, making me think that it was a back problem. Instead, Millwood has a strained biceps tendon. That sounds far worse than it is, assuming that the strain is low-grade. He'll be re-evaluated Monday to see how the arm responds with more tests possible. At this stage, it's possible that Millwood could stay on turn, though with the imminent ASB, there's the possibility that the Rangers will use the schedule to buy some extra rest for their ace.

• The Cardinals seemed happy with what team physician George Paletta saw from Mark Mulder this weekend. Cards fans might not be so happy when they hear that Mulder is still ten days away from even throwing. According to sources, this is "what was expected" from Mulder. That sounds like there's an internal timetable and certainly a better understanding of what's going on in his pitching shoulder. There is still no public timetable and nothing to make an educated guess off of quite yet. The Cards will lean on Sidney Ponson until Mulder is ready, a consequence that will ensure that the Cards medical staff is on top of this one.

• It's hard to say a guy is hurt when he steps up and smacks a three-run homer. Chipper Jones is hurt, however. A recurrence of pain in his right foot had him out of the lineup Sunday and headed for an MRI Monday. The homer helped the Braves, but Jones still has a date with a radiologist. His results on the field indicate that the injury isn't serious, though we really have no way of telling how the Braves will deal with an injury. They haven't been this far out since they dumped the powder blue, so they may get more or less conservative.

• Jeremy Reed broke his thumb on Sunday, the latest in a series of injuries that have dimmed the star of this former top prospect. A former top prospect is just another player and players with injury histories like Reed don't stay players long. He'll head to a hand specialist to see how much internal damage there is. Early indications are that he's gotten off easy with no ligament or tendon involvement. If this is the case, he'll miss a month.

• Alexis Rios had a bit of a scare with his leg infection, though the Jays insist that it was never quite as bad as it sounded. Infections are scary things in any case, so we'll take it as a good thing that Rios will only miss about a week. With the All-Star Break coming, the Jays had an easy decision putting Rios on the DL, given that he'll only miss a week's worth of games. There's no way to tell yet what effect the infection will have on Rios. Expect some general weakness, but it's not clear if it will affect his legs for running or for power. The Jays are also being very cautious with Vernon Wells, who's nursing a sore leg.

• Quick Cuts: Travis Hafner missed most of the weekend with an elbow problem. While not much is known, it is said to be "not that serious" but "not getting much better." … Rich Harden played catch this weekend. It doesn't tell us much, but nice to see some sign of progress … Dave Roberts made a rehab appearance at Single-A, showing no problems. He'll be activated for the Pads next series … No one's talking about why Rafael Soriano is unavailable. Indications are that it's not an injury … Jon Lieber will rejoin the Phillies rotation this weekend.