cubfan33
04-26-2002, 04:29 PM
Jason Johnson not only took the lead in the Odd Injury of the Year
contest, he pulled away. The reports I've seen were kind of vague so
we got two different Oriole sources - one of whom witnessed the
incident - and put together what happened. Johnson was going through
his normal routine the day before a start. While it involved almost
no throwing, Johnson did work quite a bit on his mechanics. One of
the drills involved simulating his throwing motion. While reports
conflict on how he did this, our eyewitness states it was at "full
speed or pretty close." Apparently one of the mechanical flaws in
Johnson's delivery is not knowing where the ground is. During the
follow through, he drove his middle finger into the hard dirt at the
front of the bullpen mound. The finger bent the wrong way and
fractured the 3rd middle phalanx bone (middle finger, between the
knuckles of the finger.) Johnson immediately knew it was broken and
evidently let loose with quite the salty run of language. While it
was quite humorous hearing the account, including expletives, we
won't repeat it here ... we have some ladies and younger fans.
Suffice to say, Johnson is out for 2-4 weeks and the Orioles have
called up Sean Douglass to replace him. We expect Erik Bedard may
get a look soon.
A reader pointed out to us that the Cardinals have had 5 pitchers on
the DL at some point this season, including three starters. Matt
Morris is a Tommy John Alumni, so only Daryl Kile has never had
significant injuries under the watch of "genius" Tony Larussa or
fellow "genius" Dave Duncan. Bud Smith's injury appears to be more
than initially reported. We're hearing impingement syndrome that
could require surgery. Surgery will depend on his response to rest
and anti-inflammatories. With so many pitchers out, wouldn't someone
look at, oh maybe, the pitching coach? "Hey Dave, why are all your
pitchers hurt? Any clue?" Walt Jocketty should skip down a couple
paragraphs and read about the Yankees, hint hint.
Cris Carpenter has some mild tendinitis in his pitching shoulder.
He's on the DL, but should return after 15 days. The Jays called up
Mike Smith to replace him.
Sterling Hitchcock made a rehab start at Single A Tampa and reports
were good regarding his response. He reported no pain in his back
and will head to AAA Columbus for another start. With five starters,
plus Lilly and Hitchcock, Brian Cashman may start working. A load of
teams need starters, but Texas is a likely suspect.
Kerry Wood is pitching wild again today. Its fun to watch, in a car
wreck kind of way. Through 4 1/3, he's up to 65 pitches (33s/32b).
Larry Rothschild should let him know between innings that he doesn't
have to go full on everyone. Sure, it's a one hitter, but ... Sorry,
that's not injury news, but I am a Cubs fan and I'm hoping not to
post that Kerry's arm has blown up here later this season.
Marlon Anderson hyperextended his elbow last night, but reports from
Philly are that he's fine and should return tonight.
Ron Gant's hurt. Broken pinky done while diving for a catch. It was
a nice catch, but if you have Ron Gant on your fantasy team, this
probably just helps.
Yesterday, I asked if not using Javy Lopez had hurt Greg Maddux. Lee
Sinins was all over it and responded, "It most likely hurts Maddux.
In the past few years, Maddux has suffered from run support
problems, but always seems to have about 2 token offensive explosion
that jacks up his average run support to make it look like he
doesn't have a support problem. It also seems like his bullpen blows
more wins for him than any other top pitcher. These problems stole
at least 1 Cy Young Award from him. Maddux was definitely a better
pitcher than Glavine in 1999, but since Glavine had more wins, the
writers gave him the award. Insisting on having some really bad
hitting catchers has had to have a negative impact on his run
support." Maybe Greg will read this and work things out with Javy.
Henry Blanco sure didn't help Maddux last night. I'm sure we'll see
a Maddux-Lopez summit about the same time Sharon and Arafat chip in
together to buy the Expos.
Would one of my front office type readers please look up the
official definition that differentiates the 15 and 60 day DL? Thanks.
We're working on a GREAT interview with one of the best pitching
coaches in the world. You'll PROBABLY see a special edition UTK in
the middle of next week. I hope I'm not jinxing things. I'm still
shopping for a big screen this weekend. Next report: The Big Weekly
on Sunday, unless there's a significant injury before then. As
always, feel free to email or catch us on Yahoo Messenger.
contest, he pulled away. The reports I've seen were kind of vague so
we got two different Oriole sources - one of whom witnessed the
incident - and put together what happened. Johnson was going through
his normal routine the day before a start. While it involved almost
no throwing, Johnson did work quite a bit on his mechanics. One of
the drills involved simulating his throwing motion. While reports
conflict on how he did this, our eyewitness states it was at "full
speed or pretty close." Apparently one of the mechanical flaws in
Johnson's delivery is not knowing where the ground is. During the
follow through, he drove his middle finger into the hard dirt at the
front of the bullpen mound. The finger bent the wrong way and
fractured the 3rd middle phalanx bone (middle finger, between the
knuckles of the finger.) Johnson immediately knew it was broken and
evidently let loose with quite the salty run of language. While it
was quite humorous hearing the account, including expletives, we
won't repeat it here ... we have some ladies and younger fans.
Suffice to say, Johnson is out for 2-4 weeks and the Orioles have
called up Sean Douglass to replace him. We expect Erik Bedard may
get a look soon.
A reader pointed out to us that the Cardinals have had 5 pitchers on
the DL at some point this season, including three starters. Matt
Morris is a Tommy John Alumni, so only Daryl Kile has never had
significant injuries under the watch of "genius" Tony Larussa or
fellow "genius" Dave Duncan. Bud Smith's injury appears to be more
than initially reported. We're hearing impingement syndrome that
could require surgery. Surgery will depend on his response to rest
and anti-inflammatories. With so many pitchers out, wouldn't someone
look at, oh maybe, the pitching coach? "Hey Dave, why are all your
pitchers hurt? Any clue?" Walt Jocketty should skip down a couple
paragraphs and read about the Yankees, hint hint.
Cris Carpenter has some mild tendinitis in his pitching shoulder.
He's on the DL, but should return after 15 days. The Jays called up
Mike Smith to replace him.
Sterling Hitchcock made a rehab start at Single A Tampa and reports
were good regarding his response. He reported no pain in his back
and will head to AAA Columbus for another start. With five starters,
plus Lilly and Hitchcock, Brian Cashman may start working. A load of
teams need starters, but Texas is a likely suspect.
Kerry Wood is pitching wild again today. Its fun to watch, in a car
wreck kind of way. Through 4 1/3, he's up to 65 pitches (33s/32b).
Larry Rothschild should let him know between innings that he doesn't
have to go full on everyone. Sure, it's a one hitter, but ... Sorry,
that's not injury news, but I am a Cubs fan and I'm hoping not to
post that Kerry's arm has blown up here later this season.
Marlon Anderson hyperextended his elbow last night, but reports from
Philly are that he's fine and should return tonight.
Ron Gant's hurt. Broken pinky done while diving for a catch. It was
a nice catch, but if you have Ron Gant on your fantasy team, this
probably just helps.
Yesterday, I asked if not using Javy Lopez had hurt Greg Maddux. Lee
Sinins was all over it and responded, "It most likely hurts Maddux.
In the past few years, Maddux has suffered from run support
problems, but always seems to have about 2 token offensive explosion
that jacks up his average run support to make it look like he
doesn't have a support problem. It also seems like his bullpen blows
more wins for him than any other top pitcher. These problems stole
at least 1 Cy Young Award from him. Maddux was definitely a better
pitcher than Glavine in 1999, but since Glavine had more wins, the
writers gave him the award. Insisting on having some really bad
hitting catchers has had to have a negative impact on his run
support." Maybe Greg will read this and work things out with Javy.
Henry Blanco sure didn't help Maddux last night. I'm sure we'll see
a Maddux-Lopez summit about the same time Sharon and Arafat chip in
together to buy the Expos.
Would one of my front office type readers please look up the
official definition that differentiates the 15 and 60 day DL? Thanks.
We're working on a GREAT interview with one of the best pitching
coaches in the world. You'll PROBABLY see a special edition UTK in
the middle of next week. I hope I'm not jinxing things. I'm still
shopping for a big screen this weekend. Next report: The Big Weekly
on Sunday, unless there's a significant injury before then. As
always, feel free to email or catch us on Yahoo Messenger.