Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 16, 2007
Getting the Finger

Ben Sheets sprained a finger Saturday:

The right-hander threw a pitch to Helton and immediately grimaced in pain. After meeting on the mound for a couple minutes with head trainer Roger Caplinger and manager Ned Yost, the Brewers ace was removed from the game with the Rockies leading 1-0.

"I'm kind of optimistic. I think I'll be alright," Sheets said on Saturday. "Hopefully, it's like a groin strain. You come out, you be smart and hopefully in five days you go about your business."

Sheets said it was a sprain of the top knuckle on the finger. He said he first felt pain on the second to last pitch he threw.

"I felt something pop, snap -- I don't know what it was," Sheets said. "I knew when the trainer got out there, that there wasn't going to be any more pitches for me."

X-rays were negative, but the team said Sheets would undergo an MRI on Monday if it continues to bother him.

Sheets is by far the Brewers best starter this year, the only regular with an ERA under 4.00. Without Ben the rest of the starters are 26-23. It's a perfectly good way to win a division, have one starter who is excellent, and if the others can stay around five hundred, the team will contend. The problem, of course, is if your excellent starter is injured, there's not much depth below. Yovani Gallardo, however, is posting a 2.79 ERA in three starts, with 19 K in 19 1/3 innings beginning a game. If he can continue to pitch like that, he could move into Sheets spot easily. With luck, however, the finger injury isn't serious.


Posted by David Pinto at 07:19 AM | Injuries | TrackBack (0)
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