Julio Lugo will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday to repair a torn mensiscus. The Red Sox are not sure of the severity of the tear, but Julio is unlikely to make opening day, handing the starting shortstop job to Jed Lowrie.

This is a great opportunity for Jed. If he plays well while Lugo is out, he may win the job permanently. Holding him back will be Lugo's contract, which pays him $9 million a year through 2010. (There is a vesting option for 2011, but it doesn't look like Julio will reach the 2400 PA needed.) It's possible that if Lowrie plays well, the Red Sox send Lugo back to the position until they can trade him.

Mike Lowell and Chase Utley are both recovering well from their hip surgeries. Lowell played Friday night, hit a home run and started a double play in the field. Chase Utley played in a minor league intrasquad game. So far, so good for both.

In a related item, Alex Rodriguez is off crutches and will start working in a pool.

Robinson Cano came back from the WBC with a stiff shoulder. He knew about it before he left the Yankees camp but didn't say anything:

I checked with Brian Cashman, who confirmed with trainers that today is the first the Yankees had heard about any problems with Cano's shoulder. Cano doesn't think it's anything serious, just stiffness, but as I pointed out to him, that's what Alex Rodriguez thought about his hip and he just had surgery.

It's probably good for the Yankees that the Dominicans got ousted by the Dutch. (I love writing that.)

Manny Ramirez couldn't start today:

Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez was scratched his first scheduled spring training start because of tightness in his left hamstring.

I guess he wasn't working out much in Costa Rica.

Jeff Passan pens an excellent piece on Mark Prior that questions whether his mechanics caused his injuries. Well worth the read.

Fernando Perez of the Rays will miss three months after injuring his wrist trying to make a diving catch. Joe Maddon discusses the impact on the team:

As for the impact on the Rays opening day roster, Maddon said Perez "probably would have played" in centerfield to open the season if CF B.J. Upton were not ready to return from offseason left shoulder surgery. Now, Maddon said Perez's absence gives other players opportunities to get out there.

"Now we've Got Gabe (Kapler) out there, going to get Ben Zobrist out there," Maddon said. "It just gives some other people opportunities out there in case something else were to happen. That's the impact."

I'm guessing this gives the Rays an incentive to get Upton back sooner than later.

Alfredo Amezaga sprained his knee and will miss some time:

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez didn't rule out Amezaga returning before the season opener April 6, but baseball operations president Larry Beinfest wasn't optimistic.

"It's doubtful right now," Beinfest said. "He's very valuable to this team. It's tough."

The Marlins don't know how Amezaga sustained the injury. He complained of knee stiffness after playing nine innings Sunday for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

Amezaga returned to South Florida, and the injury was diagnosed in Miami by Dr. Lee Kaplan. Amezaga will wear a protective cast for two weeks before resuming activity.

He's been a very productive player for Florida the last three years. If the Yankees can handle missing A-Rod, however, I think the Marlins can take a couple of weeks without Alfredo.

Erik Bedard was scratched from his latest start:

Seattle Mariners left-hander Erik Bedard was scratched from his scheduled start against Kansas City on Wednesday because of a sore butt.

This injury certainly made Carl Pavano the butt of jokes. The Mariners say it's not serious, so Erik should be all right in the end.

Joe Mauer's injury is an inflammed lower back:

The Twins were relieved to learn today that catcher Joe Mauer only has an inflamed sacroiliac joint following an exam on Tuesday in Fort Myers and a meeting this morning with Twins team physician Dr, John Steubs.

The Twins will switch to a stronger prescription of medication and see how Mauer responds over the next few days before he tries to do any physical activity.

I hear morphine works well, or anabolic steroids. :-)

The Star-Tribune baseball blogs are on Joe Mauer watch today as the Twins await the results of Mauer's examinations.

The Twins lost Johan Santana last season and were able to compete. Can they take a hit to the other half of their outstanding battery and still win? The Mariners did that in 2001 after losing Griffey and A-Rod, but they brought in Ichrio and Boone who took up most of the slack. Finding a replacement for Mauer will be more difficult.

David Ortiz's shoulder is preventing him from playing first base, and that's preventing the Dominican Republic from putting their best WBC team on the field.

Johan Santana's elbow appears to be fine. He'll start on Thursday after a good bullpen session:

Since a false start earlier in camp, when he was scratched from a "B" game against Italy because of elbow tightness, Santana has shown no signs of being slowed. One clear indication Mets officials feel good about the ace's health is that few executives bothered to monitor Santana's bullpen session. Only chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon, who had just returned to camp, checked it out. Manuel suggested Santana could go two or three innings and throw 45 pitches against the Marlins.

"Right now, I feel pretty good, and I felt like I could get in a game," Santana said.

There's no mention of Santana's status for opening day.

I'm continuing to wonder if Eric Chavez will ever be healthy again:

Eric Chavez's surgically repaired right shoulder bothered him when he was hitting during Oakland's exhibition game Sunday, forcing the Athletics to push back his spring debut in the field.

Chavez was scheduled to play third base against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday but was scratched, and manager Bob Geren said there was no timetable for his return.

"He experienced some pain in his shoulder yesterday, so we're going to give him a few days off even from DHing," Geren said.

The A's kept Chavez and let Miguel Tejada go. At the time, it looked like the right move. Beane got Zito and Mulder right, but he got the left side of his infield wrong.

Joe Mauer needs an MRI due to back pain:

"We've got to figure out what's going on so we can get him back and get him on the field," manager Ron Gardenhire said after the Twins' 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. "This is another effort to try to figure out where we are at and what we need to do. He's not on the field yet. He's not able to consistently go out and do anything. Concerned? Yeah."

Mauer is not only the best offensive player on the Twins, but plays a key defensive position well. Losing him hurts the Twins on both sides of the ball.

Doctors operated on Alex Rodriguez this morning:

Dr. Marc Philippon performed the 1-hour, 20-minute procedure Monday at Vail Valley Surgery Center in Colorado.

"The surgery went exactly as we planned," Philippon said on a conference call. "No surprises."

I wonder if they'll use the running tank for A-Rod's recovery? The White Sox bought one for Bo Jackson in the early 1990s that allowed him to make his comeback. The patient runs in a tank of water, and as he or she becomes stronger, less water is used so the patient supports more of his or her own weight. Ozzie Guillen later used the tank after an injury and came back twice as fast as expected.

Last season, the Angels lost both John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar to spring injuries. History is repeating as Ervin Santana goes down with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his elbow. He'll miss the start of the season. His improvement on the road last year was a big reason the Angels were able to tolerate the injuries to their big two starters and make the playoffs. Right now, they don't think Santana will miss much of the regular season, but we all know how minor elbow injuries can quickly turn into major ones. The Angels don't quite have the depth they did last year:

Santana's absence means that the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation among Dustin Moseley, Shane Loux and Nick Adenhart will now be a battle for the final two rotation spots behind John Lackey, Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver.

Weaver has been slowed this spring by shoulder tightness but is scheduled to make his exhibition debut on Tuesday.

Kelvim Escobar is far ahead of schedule in his recovery from shoulder surgery, but the veteran right-hander is not expected back until May at the earliest.

A lengthy injury to Santana should make the division more interesting.

David Epstein at Sports Illustrated gives us a complete medical view of what's wrong with Alex Rodriguez and how it's fixed.

Alex Rodriguez opts for surgery on his hip:

Alex Rodriguez will have arthroscopic hip surgery on Monday and is expected to miss six to nine weeks.

Rodriguez has a torn labrum and a cyst in his right hip. The cyst was drained last Wednesday, and the Yankees slugger had additional tests Friday to test the hip's strength and flexibility.

From what I've read earlier on the matter, it sounds like they compromised and are going to fix the labrum, not the bone. The more complicated surgery would have put Alex out for four months, where the labrum repair would take less time to heal. I suppose they could always go back in during the off-season and repair the bone, giving him plenty of time to heal.

Update: Here's more from Peter Abraham. They are indeed going to perform two surgeries:

UPDATE, 9:36 a.m.: Alex Rodriguez will have less invasive surgery to repair the labrum, try to play and then have a full repair after the season.

UPDATE, 9:40 a.m.: A-Rod has an impingement, meaning bone is striking bone. The initial surgery will fix the labrum. The second will repair the bone deformity.

The goal, Dr. Philiipon, will be a rapid rehab. "It's a very good option," he said.
He said the rehab will take 6-9 weeks.

UPDATE, 9:47 p.m.: Surgery will be Monday. Dr. Philippon said he's 85-90 percent certain A-Rod won't have a setback this season.

A-Rod will stay in Vail for several weeks.

Again, it'll be 6-9 weeks before he plays in a MLB game. So late April possibly.

UPDATE, 9:58 a.m.: Dr. Philippon said it's 100 percent that A-Rod will need a second surgery.

The larger surgery would have kept him out 3-4 months. They'll gave to reshape the femoral head of the bone.

The Yankees and Alex Rodriguez are trying to decide if he should opt for surgery now, or try to play with his injured hip. Surgery now might be better, because playing with the injury might make it much worse and surgery more complicated. He also might opt for just fixing the labrum, and not the bone, which would lead to a quicker recovery time.

When a reporter asked Girardi why Rodriguez had not decided to have the surgery immediately, he paused.

"The players always believe that they can always play through everything," Girardi said. "Sometimes they're right. Sometimes they're wrong."

Asked a similar question, Cashman said: "It's a fair question." He described the recent events and conversations as "kind of a roller coaster" and said "this is a very difficult decision for everybody involved."

"We have to make sure we don't make a short-term decision at the expense of a long one," Cashman said.

Indeed. The Yankees have a long term investment here, and it may be better to have Alex miss four months now than the last four years of his contract.

A couple of people wrote yesterday asking if I thought Alex Rodriguez's cyst was caused by his steroid use. I don't know, but that part of the hip doesn't seem like the place someone would inject steroids. I assumed they would go into the meaty part of the muscle. The New York Daily News spoke to doctors, and they doesn't think so either:

"Because A-Rod kept changing his story about his steroid use," said Dr. Lewis Maharam, the medical director of the New York Road Runners Club, "it made us skeptical about his hip issue, thinking it could be steroid-related. It is not. Avascular necrosis of the femoral head is linked to steroids and sometimes described by the lay public as a cyst. This is not what he has."

According to Dr. Struan Coleman, a hip specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery who is not treating Rodriguez but is familiar with his case, fluid from inside A-Rod's hip joint has been pushed through a tear in the labrum (a rubbery ring of cartilage in the hip) and has formed a cyst outside it.

Coleman, Maharam and three other doctors contacted by the Daily News agreed that it is unlikely that Rodriguez's injury has anything to do with his admitted steroid injections.

The doctors seem to believe that A-Rod shouldn't rush surgery.

Good and bad news for Alex Rodriguez:

Alex Rodriguez has a torn labrum in his right hip, but the New York Yankees think he can avoid surgery.

A cyst in the hip was drained Wednesday, and the third baseman will miss the World Baseball Classic. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that if surgery is needed, Rodriguez would be sidelined for four months.

"If at some point it's not working and it's a problem, then the other one becomes more of a choice," Cashman said Thursday. "Right now, the route we're going is conservative."
Cashman said that if Rodriguez is able to play, the three-time AL MVP might have offseason surgery to repair the labrum tear. Cashman said Rodriguez's preference was to try rest and treatment first.

"We're collectively trying to figure out what is best to do," Cashman said. "We don't want to rush into it. We want to digest it."

Seems like the Yankees are going to see if he can play on it this year like he did last year. If so (see Chase Utley), he can get it fixed in the off season when he has plenty of time to recover. It should be an interesting year for Alex.

Update: Peter Abraham talks to a hip expert:

A-Rod's ability to play depends on the size of the tear and how quickly it gets larger. At some point, surgery will be needed. If it is only soft tissue, the recovery time is six to eight weeks. If bone must be repaired, it would take three to four months.

Brian Cashman indicated today that surgery would knock A-Rod out for four months, so it is likely he has some sort of bone deformity. This comes from wear and tear or some sort of anatomical abnormality.

Dr. Buly, who is a Yankees fan, said A-Rod would soon have trouble pivoting or flexing. Running, at least at first, will not be a problem.

Is A-Rod at 80% better than most players at 100%?

Shawn Hill is traveling for an appointment with Dr. Andrews.

Kevin Long discusses how A-Rod's hip injury hurt his swing:

Kevin Long, the Yankees' hitting coach, said he knew Rodriguez had a hip problem last June or July. Long noticed subtle changes in Rodriguez's hitting, notably in his right foot, the back one in his stance.

The foot was not pivoting fully, Long said, and as a result, Rodriguez could not fully turn his waist and clear his hips. This caused his bat to drag and prevented him from driving through the ball and generating maximum power.

"Speed-wise, to catch up to 95, 96 mile-an-hour pitches, you've basically got to get your hips through," Long said. "It affects bat speed, power, balance. From a technical standpoint, it affects quite a few things. But he's so gifted and so talented that he made due with what he had."

It's going to be interesting to see how Utley and Lowell come back from their hip operations. It may tell us how worried the Yankees should be about Rodriguez long term.

Brandon McCarthy is feeling better and will start the B game on Friday.

Brandon Morrow is experiencing a little spring training pain:

Stuff like this is why I only expect Morrow to throw between 120-140 innings this year. He's going to need to be handled differently than the rest of the staff, and when his arm starts feeling things, they're going to have to let him skip starts. This is why trading for guys like Garrett Olson and Jason Vargas was important - the M's need to have guys around to take the hill on days when they want to be careful with Morrow's arm.

Alex Rodriguez's brother tells the New York Post that A-Rod needs hip surgery that will cost him 10 weeks:

"Alex is destroyed," Joe Dunand told lasmayores.com, a Spanish language version of MLB.com, in a translated version. "But most important is that the operation is successful and Alex can continue (playing)."

Dunard said Alex would be operated on Monday in Colorado, presumably to remove a cyst.

The Yankees have not confirmed this. Obviously, it's a big blow for the Yankees, who would be without the slugger for about six weeks, if everything goes well. I wonder if Swisher can play third? I would think the Yankees are looking for a good glove right now.

Update: Cody Ransom seems like the likely replacement. At least he knows how to take a walk. I wonder, however, if the Yankees might try for Hank Blalock?

Justin Duchscherer's elbow is bothering him, and he's likely not to make his opening day start:

Duchscherer had an MRI exam Tuesday and it showed no significant damage. A doctor recommended the two-time All-Star rest his arm for a week.

Duchscherer will visit Los Angeles Angels team doctor Dr. Lewis Yocum. The pitcher has yet to appear in a spring game.

Meanwhile, Johan Santana wants to start opening day.

Brandon McCarthy will miss his next start. He stopped throwing his curve ball partly because it hurt.

My Baseball Bias rounds up information on a cyst on A-Rod's hip that might keep him out of the WBC.

J.D. Drew flew to Boston yesterday for an injection in his back:

"The reason we did it was kind of -- I want to explain this right -- kind of precautionary," Francona said. "We have some time right now because it's so early in March, and J.D., through getting looked at by some different people, though this could be a benefit to him. If it worked, we think we thought OK, good. If it didn't seem to do anything, OK, well it's March 3 or March 2.

"I just think we kind of did to, if we run into a problem later this year, maybe we know a little bit quicker where to go."

If I read that correctly, the Red Sox are trying something that might make things better, so it was worth the trip to Boston. Drew posted a .408 OBA and a .519 slugging percentage in 2008. Those numbers are tough to replace, so it's understandable that the Red Sox will do anything they can to keep him in the lineup.

Update: Drew gave an interview on the subject today.

Please donate to the Baseball Musings Pledge Drive.

With elbow feeling better and a heavy snow storm blowing into New York, the Mets are keeping Johan Santana in Florida.

By the way, why does he need to go to New York for an MRI? Florida must have MRI machines, and can't someone just email the doctors the results? This is the age of rapid communications. The doctor should be able to examine the pictures on his I-Phone.

Jeremy Bonderman suffered a set back with his surgically repaired shoulder. Bless You Boys wonders how bad it might be:

Remain calm, Leyland said, all is well. Bondo would instead pitch in a simulated game where coaches could watch him more closely, and his pitch count could be controlled exactly. (Such a strategy didn't look so bad after Dontrelle Willis pushed through 43 pitches on Friday.)

But what are we to think after the Tigers canceled Bonderman's simulated game, opting to prescribe anti-inflammatory meds and sit him down for a couple of days? I kind of feel the same as when I'm watching a movie and a character coughs noticeably. Okay, something bad's going to happen.

The strange thing is, despite poor strikeout and walk numbers in 2008, Bonderman posted the 2nd best ERA of his career before succumbing to the injury. He's still very young. The Tigers seem willing not to rush the healing process, so there's still every reason to hope Bonderman fulfills his potential.

Johan Santana is headed to New York for more tests on his elbow. Given that the city might get a foot of snow, Johan better leave now.

Fortunately, Santana says he fine:

Santana threw approximately 31 pitches in a bullpen session Sunday, according to Newsday. He said he felt no discomfort after the throwing session.

"I feel fine," Santana said, according to Newsday. "It's the first time in the last four days that I've thrown, but I feel good. I don't think there will be any problem."

Minaya described the tests -- which might include an MRI -- as "precautionary."

With a player of Santana's abilities, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Joe Nathan pulled out of the WBC due to a sore acromioclavicular joint. There's no word on the seriousness of this, or if it was just a precaution.

The Yankees are being careful with Jorge Posada, who suffered some shoulder soreness:

Accounts of the injury differed slightly between the manager and the player. Girardi said Posada woke up Saturday morning with a little soreness. Posada said he hurt it Thursday in the on-deck circle while stretching before his first at-bat in his first exhibition game.

"I wasn't thinking," Posada said. "I grabbed a bat and go back all the way, and I wasn't supposed to do that. I felt it in the shoulder. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do it. I kept playing, and there was nothing wrong."

He'll take a couple of days off to see how it feels.

Johan Santana's elbow isn't getting any better, and now there's a report he might miss opening day. I'm waiting to hear about the trip to Doctor Andrews.

I suppose the Yankees and Red Sox not trading for Johan might end up looking pretty good.

Johan Santana has a sore elbow, but Jerry Manuel says it's no big deal:

Manager Jerry Manuel told the website that the problem is "nothing abnormal" for Santana, and that Santana instead would throw a side session Friday. Santana had offseason knee surgery, which might have affected his throwing program and contributed to the elbow discomfort.

I'm sorry, no one wants to hear "Santana", "elbow" and "discomfort" in the the same sentence. We've seen nothing to worry about turn into Tommy John surgery too often.

Ryan Feierabend may need season ending surgery. So far in his career he's been a much better minor league than major league pitcher, so there was some hope for him maturing. That is going to be put on hold.

Kerry Wood's back is sore.

Boof Bonser's surgery revealed a torn rotator cuff, and he'll likely miss the entire 2009 season.

Homer Bailey almost took out his hands this off season; twice.

Vernon Wells's hamstring injury doesn't seem to be that serious:

"It's the same injury I had (from last season) and (doctors) told me it's a unique injury. There's a chance of it coming back, of rupturing the tendon, but right now it's just a strain on the scar tissue from the original (injury).

"It's not as bad as it seemed," Wells said of yesterday's estimates of a four week layoff. "It's something that if I needed to get through right now, I could. But (it's spring training), and we have time to get ready for the opening of the season."

He says he'll miss two weeks instead of four, as originally reported.

Boof Bonser says he needs shoulder surgery, although the team hasn't officially agreed:

"They're going to have to go in and clean it out," he said.

Bonser said team doctors were looking the results of the MRI exam he underwent yesterday in St. Petersburg, Fla., and official word should come after today's workout.

It's a blow for Bonser, who was trying to figure out his bullpen role. Some feel he could be late-inning guy because he can hit 94 on the gun. But the Twins might want another long reliever to go with Matt Guerrier since Jesse Crain, Luis Ayala, Craig Breslow and Jose Mijares are largely one-inning guys.

Stay tuned.

Update: Bonser will undergo surgery Wednesday:

Bonser will miss at least several weeks because of the surgery - but even longer if he needs more than just a clean-up. Bonser reported shoulder soreness at the end of last season but an MRI revealed no structural damage. Rest didn't help, as Bonser threw three times off a mound in January and still felt discomfort.

Basically, they won't know much until they get a look inside.

Darin Erstad suffered a small fracture of his cheek bone. The comment on the article at BBTF is priceless.

David Dellucci had reporters going with the story of his thumb injury:

Dellucci, who will miss at least the first three games of the Cactus League season, told reporters Saturday morning that he suffered a cut left thumb when an alligator bit him while he was saving a boy while fishing near his home in Baton Rouge, La.

He hooked two of the three reporters gathered around him hook, line and sinker before coming clean.

Dellucci said he smashed his thumb while trying to close the tailgate of his trailer on Feb. 1. He called the Indians with news about the mishap right after it happened and reported to camp early to get it checked out.

As reported in an earlier post, Dellucci needed three stitches to close the cut. Then he needed surgery on the thumb to reclose the cut properly and reattach the nail to the nail bed.

If a gator was that close, he would have gotten more than the thumb. :-)

David Ortiz isn't working out.

About the only real news from the Q&A was that David Ortiz was once again absent from on-field workouts as he continues to nurse a sore left shoulder after sleeping on it awkwardly two nights ago. Ortiz also sat out yesterday's on-field sessions.

After 30-odd years of sleeping, you'd think Ortiz would be good at it by now.

At least he didn't have a bad dream. :-)

Jered Weaver is experiencing the same tightness he did last year, but this time the Angels were on top of it early:

Asked if there were similarities between this spring and 2007, Weaver said, "It's the same kind of feeling, nothing we haven't dealt with before."

The difference is, in 2007, the Angels did not know Weaver's arm was tight until camp opened. This winter, the problem flared up in early January, and Weaver immediately notified the Angels, who had him come to the stadium for the next five weeks or so for treatment and strengthening exercises.

Weaver, who went 11-10 with a 4.33 ERA in 30 starts last season, didn't pitch in any exhibition games in 2007. This spring, he is scheduled to begin throwing off a mound in a week to 10 days.

"We didn't get to it as quickly [in 2007] as we did this time," Weaver said. "But I'll be on pace to start season. I definitely have enough time to get going. I'm on schedule ... just a little tardy."

Jose Guillen removed his own ingrown toe nail:

"The doctor saw me (Wednesday)," Guillen said, "and he said we'll see how it feels in the morning. If it wasn't any better, he wanted me to have surgery. I thought, 'Whoaaa.'

"So I went on my own (Wednesday) to the pharmacy, got some tweezers, came home and pulled it out myself. Let me tell you, I cried. I had one tough hour. But I got it out."

Guillen said the nail had hooked and twisted deep into the skin.

"I reached in there (with the tweezers)," he said, "and poked around until I got the end of it. Then I counted one, two, three and just pulled .... Oh, my God. It came out, but tears were running down my cheeks."

There's no crying in baseball!

I wonder if he'll apply to medical school when his career is over?

Chase Utley is starting to believe he'll be ready for the Phillies opening game:

"I think it's pretty realistic at this point," Utley said. "We've pushed it over the past week and a half, two weeks that I've been down here, and it's responded extremely well. We're not overdoing it yet, but we are putting it to a good pace, and I think we are all pretty comfortable with it.

"I would say my chances right now -- I don't want to jinx myself -- are fair to quite fair."

Every day Utley plays makes in less likely the Phillies will need to chase the Mets down the stretch.

Hat tip, Phillies Nation.

Jeff Francis will likely miss the 2009 due to exploratory surgery:

He came to spring training hoping to test his shoulder before making a decision on what to do next and reported feeling less discomfort in camp. But Francis changed his mind after watching video of his pitching form in a Tuesday bullpen session.

"It didn't look anywhere close. I was really disappointed," Francis said. "There is obviously something going on."

He said he spotted changes he had made in his delivery to avoid pain.

"I had no arm speed, my arm was short and the arm action was short and I was not powerful at all," he said.

Francis said it was bad time of year to make the decision, but "I think it is a necessary one."

I'm surprised exploratory surgery would do that much damage. I assume the doctors will find something, and fixing the something is what's going to put him on the shelf for a year.

Boof Bonser ended 2008 with a sore shoulder, and starts 2009 the same way:

After indicating that Boof Bonser's shoulder would be well enough for him to throw a bullpen session by today, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Tuesday that Bonser's next session has yet to be scheduled.

Bonser received a cortisone shot in his shoulder Thursday to help battle tendinitis. So it appears he needs more time to get the soreness out of the area.

"Day to day," Gardenhire said. "He's not throwing. He had an injection. He's doing all the other stuff. I have not gotten an update on when he will start his throwing program. All we have to do is calm down the inflammation in his shoulder. Which, through all the exercises and treatment that he's getting, is going to happen here pretty soon."

Or maybe not. When someone takes the winter off and the shoulder doesn't heal, doesn't that indicate there's something more serious going on? No one wants to see another pitcher turn into Mark Prior.

Mike Napoli's shoulder is coming along slowly:

"I'm doing everything but catching," Napoli said Monday. "I have someone throwing the ball back for me."

Unfortunately, catchers can't use a designated thrower. He'll probably DH some early in the season.

David Ortiz says his wrist is healed:

Ortiz, looking slimmer than last season, said his left wrist has healed 100 percent after heeding Dr. Thomas Gill's advice to take two months off and then resuming his hitting program. Ortiz said once he returned to hitting he was fine, and the "popping" noise he heard and felt in his wrist was gone.

"I'm feeling fine right now," he said. "I have no problem swinging."

We'll see. Ortiz also talks about how he'd like to have Manny back.

Erik Bedard threw off a mound for the first time since his surgery on Sunday.

"He looked in shape and he looked healthy," Wakamatsu said. "We're not trying to put all the attention on one guy. I think it was a big help, the meeting I had with him before the season. I got to know him, and we've built a good relationship. He's got a good sense of humor. He just doesn't want to be the center of attention.

"That's fine. As long as he goes out there every five days, we'll be happy."

A healthy Bedard would give the Mariners a big boost in 2009. With the AL West looking like a weak division, that could help them compete for a division title.

Ben Sheets underwent surgery on Tuesday and may make it back for the second half of the 2009 season. We could see more intense bidding in July than we've seen all winter.

Finally, a place where we can get accurate information about a player's injury history. Fantasy Pitch F/X now has a tool that allows you to enter a player's name and see all his stints on the DL, the body parts he injured, and the total number of days missed. Excellent work!

Hat tip, Beyond the Boxscore.

Both Chien-Ming Wang and Jorge Posada are making progress rehabilitating their injuries.

Carlos Pena underwent abdominal surgery over three weeks ago, but should be ready for spring training. He won't play in the WBC, but should be ready for the season. I wonder why they didn't announce this earlier?

Baseball Time in Arlington comments on Joaquin Benoit's surgery:

Benoit, coincidentally, is set to earn a base salary of $3.5 million in 2009. Toss in Frank Catalanotto's seemingly immovable $4 million salary (coupled with a $2 million buyout for 2010), and that's suddenly more than 10 percent of the projected 2009 payroll sunk into either damaged or superfluous goods.

With the injury to Hurley, I'm betting Texas is being pushed more toward signing Ben Sheets.

Troy Glaus underwent shoulder surgery which will sideline him for three months:

Glaus will begin physical therapy next week following Wednesday's surgery in Los Angeles. The 32-year-old hit .270 with 27 homers and 99 RBIs last season, his first with the Cardinals.

It wasn't immediately clear why the 2002 World Series MVP waited until now to have the surgery, which likely will cause him to miss the Cardinals' opener on April 6. Glaus appeared at the team's annual Winter Warmup event last weekend and made no mention of an injury or a need for surgery.

Glaus had two cortisone shots and missed a few games in September due to what was described as a strained right shoulder. But an MRI at the time showed no significant problems.

That's certainly a blow to the Cardinals offense, at least opening the season. This will be the fourth year from 2003 on in which Troy lost significant time due to injury.

Tom Glavine is throwing pain free and feels he will pitch in 2009.

There seems to be some question about the health of Rich Harden:

''His arm action's good; he's throwing free and easy,'' Rothschild told a roomful of fans during the Cubs Convention, the day after watching Harden throw for the first time since October. But then he added: ''He's not close to throwing off a mound yet. There's some issues there, no question.''

Huh? Nobody around the Cubs expected Harden -- who gutted out the final month of a 10-2 season with shoulder discomfort -- to be the staff's 230-inning horse or even to provide more than about 25 starts, given his history of arm troubles and the handle-with-care tag the club has put on him.

And even in the wake of Rothschild's comments -- and manager Lou Piniella's subsequent evasive response to specific questions about Harden's condition -- Cubs insiders say Harden is right on schedule toward a strong, on-time and well-conditioned start to spring training and the season.

But sources also confirmed Saturday that Harden has a tear in the joint, just severe enough that some players might seek surgery but slight enough to be in a range often treated effectively with a strengthening program, therapy and a well- managed work schedule.

All this sounds a little too much like what went on with Mark Prior.

Chris Carpenter is feeling fine:

Carpenter said the procedure in November to move the nerve "did wonders for my elbow. A lot of the problems I was having with my elbow are gone. ... All of them are."

He continues to condition his shoulder while stretching out throwing sessions at Busch Stadium.

"The first week, every day you wake up it's a little cranky, a little sore," Carpenter said. "You get it going, you start working it every day and it's like anything else. Each day you progress and hope it gets stronger, and that's what it's done."

No doubt the Cardinals are looking forward to getting their ace back.

B.J. Upton's continues his recovery from surgery on his left shoulder, but it looks like he won't be ready to play until sometime in April.

Daniel Cabrera took out Melky Cabrera by hitting him with a pitch in a winter league game. It's not clear if this is good news or bad news for the Yankees. :-)

Carlos Guillen returned to action in the Venezuelan Winter League. His back appears to be better.

Barry Bonds underwent hip surgery. That's just another reason why teams won't sign him.

The Nationals' leader in wins, Tim Redding, underwent foot surgery on Friday and should be ready for spring training. Redding is a low strikeout pitcher who does okay in years he keeps his walks low.

Freddy Garcia suffered an injury in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Chad Billingsly broke his leg from slipping on the ice. Jon Weisman has details. Chad is expected to be ready for spring training.

Dernell Stenson Award winner Jason Donald may not be blocked from starting, as the Phillies infielders keep going under the knife. This time, Pedro Feliz undergoes back surgery:

Feliz' procedure, a lumbar discectomy that will correct the intermittent symptoms that placed him on the disabled list for 26 days in July and August, requires an 8-to-12-week rehabilitation period, meaning he likely will be at full strength either at the start of spring training or soon thereafter.

The Phillies had Donald practicing at both Utley's and Feliz's positions:

Donald, meanwhile, has quickly become one of the Phillies' top prospects. He hit two home runs in a spring-training game against the Blue Jays, then hit .307 with 14 home runs and 54 RBI at Double A Reading. He also finished fourth in the recently completed Arizona Fall League with a .407 batting average.

During the AFL season, Donald played both second base and third base in addition to his natural position at shortstop.

I could see Donald moving into Feliz's position if he can post high OBAs as he did in the minors.

I'm out at Red Robin and just saw on ESPN that Chase Utley needs hip surgery and may be out until mid-June. More later.

Update: Here's the story from Jayson Stark:

Utley consistently downplayed speculation about his bad hip during the second half of the postseason. But the Phillies revealed Thursday that since the World Series, he has had the hip evaluated by Phillies team physician Michael Ciccotti, of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Rothman Institute, and by Dr. Bryan Kelly, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Both doctors recommended that Utley undergo surgery on his right hip. That procedure, described by the club as an "arthroscopic evaluation with treatment of any labral or bony injury," will be performed by Dr. Kelly next week.
According to the Phillies, Utley would be able to resume baseball activities in three to four months -- meaning sometime during spring training, but possibly not until the week before Opening Day.

However, full recovery time is projected at between four and six months. That means the best-case scenario is a return in early April, but the worst-case scenario is late May or early June, depending on how long a rehab option the club feels he would need.

So Amaro starts his tenure with a huge hole to fill. I wonder if this will make them more likely to re-sign Pat Burrell to keep two big bats in the middle of the lineup?

Pat Neshek hurt himself throwing last week:

Minnesota Twins reliever Pat Neshek will have ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow and is expected to miss next season.

The right-hander re-injured his elbow last week during a throwing session at the team's facility in Florida. He had an MRI exam Tuesday, which revealed a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament. The procedure could take place next week.

After a standout season in 2007 as Minnesota's primary setup man, Neshek sustained a partial tear of the ligament during a game in May. The Twins recommended rest and rehabilitation rather than surgery at the time. Neshek said last month his recovery was on track and he'd be ready for spring training.

That's too bad. I wonder if more players will opt for surgery first after this incident.

Two Oakland Athletics players underwent surgery last Friday, Daric Barton and Greg Smith.

Michael Axisa passes on this story about Jonathan Papelbon's shoulder:

If the Red Sox had taken a lead in Game 7 of the ALCS on Sunday night, All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon wasn't coming out of the bullpen.

According to Daisuke Matsuzaka, manager Terry Francona informed him that Matsuzaka was going to be the closer because Papelbon's right shoulder was barking.

So, is it just a short term injury or something more long term?

Terry Francona scheduled an operation:

Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona will be heading for surgery this offseason.

Francona said Tuesday that he's had a back problem and hasn't had full feeling in his arms since May. He hopes to get that fixed this winter so he can be ready for spring training.

I wish him the best.

Mike Lowell underwent hip surgery today. Since it only required an arthroscope, his time to recover should be reasonable.

Ken Griffey, Jr. underwent knee surgery yesterday:

Griffey's knee troubles could be the source of his dip in home runs last season. He hit 30 in 428 at-bats in the 2007 season but just 18 in 528 at-bats in 2008.

"There's no question," Dr. Tim Kremchek said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "It affected that push-off leg. How much I don't know. But he was dealing with it all year. There's not much you can do early in the season."

Does a team take a chance on Griffey, and for how much? He's already at 600 home runs so there's no real milestones left for him to reach. He's unlikely to pass Mays this season, if ever. He's no longer a defensive asset, so you have to hope he can bang a bunch of homers from the designated hitter spot. I suppose he might draw some fans to a bad Seattle team, but outside of that, I just don't see an upside to a team offering him a contract.

Dr. James Andrews operated on Travis Hafner today, Tuesday:

Dr. James Andrews performed the 45-minute procedure. In a statement, the Indians said Hafner underwent a debridement, or cleaning, of his right shoulder joint. Hafner's strained shoulder kept him on the disabled list from May 30 through Sept. 8.

The Indians expect him to be ready for the 2009 season.

Hafner actually showed a big offensive decline in 2007, so that makes me wonder how long the shoulder was bothering him. We'll see if he can get close to his 2006 numbers next season.

The Rockies first round pick from 2006 needs Tommy John surgery. He won't be pitching again before 2010.

Mike Lowell will not be returning to the Red Sox lineup if they reach the World Series:

Mike Lowell will undergo surgery on his right hip Monday, depriving the Red Sox of last year's World Series MVP for the rest of their season.

The third baseman, who is not on Boston's roster for the AL championship series, chose to have the surgery as soon as possible so he would have a good chance to be ready for the start of spring training.

The Red Sox signed Lowell through 2010 after their 2007 World Championship. He's a fan favorite and still a good third baseman, but injuries are starting to take their toll on his career. The Red Sox front office does a good job in general, but even they sometimes get caught up in the moment and don't make the best decisions.

Doctors take a look at the inside of Travis Hafner's shoulder on Tuesday:

Andrews will clean out the shoulder and investigate why it's causing pain, Indians head trainer Lonnie Soloff said. Soloff didn't indicate how long Hafner will be out and said he would know more Tuesday about what the procedure will involve.

There were no tests or images that indicated the shoulder needed to be repaired or reconstructed, Soloff said.

It looks like James Andrews won't know the extent of the damage until he's inside.

Surgeons fixed Albert Pujols's elbow today:

Pujols' operation, performed by Cardinals team physician Dr. George Paletta, included decompression and transposition of the ulnar nerve. It did not require reconstruction of the medial collateral ligament.

The Cardinals first baseman played an MVP season with a bad elbow. Imagine what he'll do in 2009 healthy.

Josh Beckett says he is fine:

"Unless you guys are getting information somewhere else, I don't know what to tell you guys. You just keep asking the same questions about my health -- I tell you I'm fine. Just go on, write that. I'm fine."

I just his results are just random variation.

The Cubs want a look at Rich Harden's shoulder before they pick up his option:

General manager Jim Hendry said Harden would be examined Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. He received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder in early September and his velocity dropped after a 109-pitch outing Aug. 24 against Washington. Harden still was throwing in the 95-96 m.p.h. range in the seventh inning of that game when he struck out the side to finish with 11 strikeouts.

One advance scout told Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper that he believed Harden had elbow or shoulder problems: "I've had him consistently down at least 5 miles per hour from what he used to throw. There's something in [his arm.]"

It's not clear that refusing the option and letting Rich go to arbitration saves the Cubs any money. If the exam shows the need for surgery, however, they could argue to an arbitrator that a partial season isn't worth as much as a full season, I suppose.

Surgeons fixed Mariano Rivera's shoulder today.

Altchek shaved a calcified joint on the top of Rivera's shoulder. The 38-year-old Rivera had 39 saves this year, and his 1.40 ERA was his best since 2005.

Given his performance, maybe they should have left the shoulder as is. :-)

It appears that Mike Lowell is done for the playoffs. He made a valiant try to play, but his body didn't hold up.

Surgeons repaired Rickie Weeks's knee today:

Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks underwent a debridement of the meniscus of the left knee on Monday.

The procedure was performed by Dr. William Raasch at Froedtert Medical Center in Milwaukee and Weeks will begin therapy later in the week. He is expected to be ready for spring training.

Joe Maddon just said that Pena scratched his eye at home. He was okay in batting practice, but as he got into the game his vision blurred.

Willy Aybar replaces Carlos Pena to start the third inning. No word on why yet. The White pick up two singles to start the inning, but a bunt and a popup brings up Wise with two men on in scoring position.

Update: Wise delivers a three-run homer to rightfield.

Update: Dye hits a double over the centerfielder's head as the White Sox continue to hit Shields this inning.

Update: Thome grounds out to end the inning. Chicago takes a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the third. Wise now has two huge home runs as he replaces Carlos Quentin.

Update: The Rays come right back. A single by Barlett and a triple to center by Iwamura cut the lead to one, and the tying run is at third with on one out.

Update: Upton strikes out swinging, fouling a check swing into the catcher's mitt.

Update: Aybar gets the ball in the air, and Iwamura just beats Wise's throw from left to tie the game. Longoria comes up and hits another home run! The Rays lead 4-3, and Longoria has a perfect post-season line of 1.000/1.000/4.000.

Update: Floyd flies out to end the inning. TBS showed a good replay of Longoria hitting the home run. He starts his swing looking for the fastball, then realizes the pitch is a change up. He hesitates to time the pitch, then smashes the ball. That was a great example of a hitter making a split second adjustment.

Johan Santana underwent knee surgery today:

Wow. I just received a call from the Mets, who said Johan Santana had successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. The procedure was arthroscopic, and was performed today by team physician Dr. Stuart Coleman at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

The release said Santana suffered the torn meniscus before his last start -- Saturday's three-hitter on three-days rest that saved the Mets' season for another day. I've posted the complete release below. Let the legend grow...

That's the definition of a gamer.

The Padres are trying to recover some on Khalil Greene's salary:

Greene broke the fifth metacarpal bone in his left hand in punching a Petco Park storage cabinet after his 100th strikeout of the season. The injury caused Greene to miss the season's last two months and nearly a third of the Padres' scheduled games.

On a pro-rated basis, that could leave as much as $1.47 million of his $4.5 million salary in dispute.

The Padres are not only trying to get some money back, but discourage that kind of behavior in the future.

Pat Burrell suffered back discomfort Tuesday afternoon. It's not clear if he'll be able to play in game one of the Brewers/Phillies series on Wednesday.

Josh Beckett will start game three instead of game one of the ALDS due to a muscle strain. There is suspicion, however, that the injury is more serious:

However, a strained oblique tends to sideline a player for longer than a week. The Sox have had four oblique injuries in the last two years, and the average amount of time missed was three to four weeks.

The injury also caused Ken Rosenthal to change his prediction for the series. With the extra day off, however, Boston can pitch Matsuzaka and Lester twice, one on three days rest. I'm not sure that's puts Boston in the hole.

Update: I see Lester is starting game 1. That makes perfect sense since he can then pitch game four at home on normal rest, and Dice-K can pitch two games on the road where his ERA is much better.

Mariano Rivera undergoes shoulder surgery on Oct. 6th. As River Ave. Blues notes:

The Yanks doled out very large contracts last year to two players in their late 30s, and both suffered shoulder injuries this year. While Jorge Posada and Rivera both earned their deals and are, in a sense, getting paid for past accomplishments, I can't imagine the Yanks will give out too many more of these long deals to older players.

The only player really left in this category is Jeter, whose contract expires in two seasons. He'll be 36 at that point. It's tough for me to believe the Yankees won't keep him on the team somehow, especially if they can get Derek chasing Rose and A-Rod chasing Bonds at the same time. A short term guarantee with revolving team options (think Tim Wakefield) might be more appropriate at that point.

The Dodgers will leave Hong-Chih Kuo off the NLDS roster:

Kuo, the Dodgers' top middle reliever with 96 strikeouts in 80 innings, warmed up in the bullpen to pitch in relief Saturday night at San Francisco but said he couldn't feel his fingers and didn't enter the game. He then threw for about 15 minutes in the indoor cage and still was having problems with numbness -- and his skin became red.

The Dodgers didn't want to take any chances on Kuo, who has a long history of injury problems, might have a blood clot. He will undergo more tests in the coming days, then head to instructional league in Arizona to determine whether he might be available if the NL West champions advance to the National League Championship Series.

One of their top relievers, this makes beating an excellent Cubs offense even more difficult.

Update: On the other hand, T.J. Simers notes that Torre has done very well against Piniella in the playoffs.

From a comment to the previous post, J.J. Hardy may be injured from the home plate celebration after the Braun grand slam won the game for the Brewers. If they need to replace him with Craig Counsell, they don't lose much in OBA put do lose quite a bit of power.

In the clearest indication that the Yankees don't believe they are going to the post season, Hideki Matsui undergoes knee surgery today.

He'll be ready for Spring Training, but how he fits in the 2009 Yankee lineup is, right now, open for debate.

Matsui still hits well and gets on base well. His power, however, fell off this season. If a new knee can bring back his home run stroke, he'll fit in fine with the Yankees plans.

The Phillies take a 3-2 lead over the Marlins in the top of the fifth, and Anibal Sanchez leaves the game with what appears to be an injury to his right leg. The Marlins have never won 10 games in a row, the only active team never to experience a double digit win streak.

Hanley Ramirez's injury was not caused by him swinging the bat.

Michael Hunt looks at the two possible outcomes of Ben Sheets injury. In addition to the forearm tightness from batting, Sheets says his elbow is bothering him. Hunt notes that the team could rally without Ben, or be pulled down by the loss. I tend to think they have enough to win the wild card without Ben, but his absence would really hurt them in the playoffs.

Hanley Ramirez left tonight's Marlins game with a sore shoulder after hitting two home runs. This reminds of Ron Bloomberg, the first designated hitter. He once swung so hard he tore his shoulder and ended up on the disabled list. An extended loss of Hanley at this point would kill the slight chance the Marlins have of making the playoffs.

Florida leads Houston 9-2 in the seventh. Hunter Pence hit two home runs for the Astros.

Ben Sheet lasts only two innings tonight. The comments at Brew Crew Ball notes the exit:

Why? Pllleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaassssssssseeeeeeee goooooooodddddd nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm watching the Brewers version of the broadcast but I have not heard a report. In other comments, it was noted that Ben's velocity was down.

The good news is Milwaukee is up 3-1 in the fifth.

Update: I just heard right forearm strain for Sheets. I'm guessing that puts the rest of the regular season in jeopardy. It also lowers the chance of the Brewers making the playoffs, and winning if they do get there.

Mike Lowell is not playing tonight, and the Red Sox are trying to find out if he'll be able to play again this season.

Joel Zumaya can't catch a break. Actually, he can. His sore shoulder is now a stress fracture in his throwing shoulder. He hasn't pitched well this season, walking 22 in 23 1/3 innings.

Paul Konerko's knee injury isn't as bad as it looked last night.

Sox Side Sox saw Paul Konerko injured and believes he's done for the year. Paul's power came back in August, so this is a big loss for the White Sox.

Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden are scheduled to pitch later this week. Good news for the Cubs.

Albert Pujols is considering surgery on his elbow, which would cost him the start of the 2009 season:

But the St. Louis Cardinals and Pujols have both said that surgery on the elbow will eventually be necessary. He's been playing with the injury since 2003.

"I'm thinking about it; I'm thinking really hard," he said. "There's just a lot of things next year going on, the All-Star Game [in St. Louis], the [World Baseball] Classic, you know. But I think in the long run, the sooner that I get it done, the better it's going to be for me, because I'm going to heal quicker than if I wait two or three more years. But it needs to be done."

Given his great hitting since 2003, imagine what he'll be like with a new arm!

The Angels scratch Jered Weaver from another start due to cuts on his fingers.

Billy Wagner may not pitch again until 2010:

Mets closer Billy Wagner has a torn ligament in his left elbow and will have surgery this week, meaning he'll miss the rest of this season and likely all of 2009, too.

The surgery will repair a torn MCL ligament and a torn flexor pronator, and has a recovery time of at least a year, the Mets announced Monday. Since Wagner is currently in the third year of a four-year, $43-million contract, it's possible he has thrown his last pitch for the Mets, though the team holds a $8 million option on Wagner for the 2010 season or there is a $1 million buyout on the deal.

We know what Omar Minaya will be looking for this winter. At age 37, it's possible that Wagner will not be able to make a comeback. Wagner was quite durable during his career, only missing significant time in 2000 and 2004. What do Mets fans think of John Maine going to the bullpen, possibly in the closer role? He certainly can strike out enough batters to be successful in the role.

David Oritz says he still has problems with his injured hand:

"Yup, been a while," Ortiz said, of hitting a home run. "I've just had zero luck. Swinging like [expletive]. My hand is not OK. It's still bothering me once in a while, but we're winning so I don't pay attention to it. I keep on trying."

And that's about all that can be done at this point. With Ortiz and the team deciding to let the wrist heal on its own, instead of opting for surgery, Ortiz will have to play through the clicking the rest of this season.

"There is not a doctor that can fix that for now," Ortiz said. "It's just the same thing. On and off. You're feeling good, then you're clicking back. You try not to think about it. Just play. Since I got that thing my whole swing has changed. I mentally try to keep the same approach of going to the plate and not thinking about it. But it's hard, man. It's tough."

The Red Sox are playing quite impressive baseball. They're deep enough that some section of the team always seems to be working. The own the highest run differential in the AL, +155, second only to the Cubs. The difference in one run victories is the reason they are 1 1/2 games behind instead of 6 1/2 games ahead of the Rays. They've done this with Ortiz hurt, Manny gone, Drew hurt and Beckett not pitching up to last year's level. Not a bad performance at all.

Billy Wagner's simulated game this afternoon went poorly. ESPN showed video of him pitching. He looked fine, then threw a pitch at the feet of the batter and walked off the mound in pain:

Before reaching his scheduled allotment of 15 to 20 pitches, Wagner hit Gustavo Molina in the foot and walked off the mound, shaking his head.

"That's it, I can't do it anymore," he said.

It was Wagner's first time facing hitters since Aug. 16, when he also felt tenderness that hindered his progress. General Manager Omar Minaya would not call Sunday's outing a setback, but Wagner was distraught enough that he did not speak to reporters. Minaya said Wagner would be examined by team doctors on Monday.

"We're going to be conservative," Minaya said. "We've been conservative. We'll continue to be conservative. He's been showing great signs, great progress. He's throwing the ball pretty good as you guys saw -- he showed great velocity --but that being said, it's not only going to be about velocity. It's about feeling those feelings in the area of the arm that he is feeling."

The Mets are going to need to win with the bullpen they have. As long as the offense can play up to their potential, this shouldn't be a big problem.

The Diamondbacks are skipping Randy Johnson's turn in the rotation due to a sore shoulder:

"We talked earlier in the season that if we ever got in a position with Randy, whether it was his back or shoulder, we don't want anything to linger if there is a little issue there where he has to overcompensate in some other areas," Melvin said before Saturday's game against the Dodgers.

"I don't think it's a long-term thing," Melvin said. "But if we would have run him out there tomorrow not feeling great, it could linger for a while."

Melvin said he made the decision after speaking with Johnson on Saturday, adding that Johnson did not ask to be pushed back.

"He knows how to pitch with some pain," Melvin said. "(But) it felt like the best thing to do."

The Diamondbacks need to beat the Dodgers. My question is, will they be better able to do that with Johnson pitching through pain or a healthy Max Scherzer on the mound? Scherzer has very good strikeout numbers, but he does walk a high number of batters. The Dodgers also hit lefties better than righties, so indeed, it seems Melvin is making the right move.

The Rays activated Evan Longoria off the disabled list, but he's not in the lineup today. Toronto leads Tampa Bay 2-0 in the third inning

Shawn Hill's surgery went well and he won't need another round of Tommy John surgery.

My mention of Carlos Quentin in the previous post now looks ill advised. Quentin appears done for the season:

Carlos Quentin's season appears to be over as the White Sox left fielder and MVP candidate suffered a fractured right wrist that will require surgery Monday, according to sources.

It's not certain how Quentin suffered the injury, but speculation is he punched a locker in Boston. He was a late scratch before Monday's game in Cleveland and hasn't played since.

A locker in Boston would be appropriate since his loss makes Boston winning the wild card more likely. The Globe notes this will also help Pedroia in a bid to win the MVP award. Of course, the Rays lost their best hitter and didn't miss a beat. Maybe the White Sox can do the same.

Update: Quentin broke the wrist slapping his bat in frustration during a game in Cleveland on Monday.

Carlos Zambrano's MRI revealed shoulder tendinitis and received an anti-inflammatory injection.

General manager Jim Hendry said Zambrano hopes to start throwing again when the team begins a series in St. Louis on Sept. 10. If all goes well, Zambrano would start at Houston in the following series.

Zambrano, 13-5 this year, left his start Tuesday night against the Astros after five innings, saying he did not feel well. He was examined Wednesday by team orthopedist Dr. Stephen Gryzlo.

Zambrano is 1-1 over his last six starts and has made it past the fifth inning only twice.

As I noted in my radio show last night, there's no real reason to rush Carlos back. The Cubs are good enough to coast to the playoffs without Carlos and Harden. They need both healthy for October, so there's no reason to take any chances. The Cubs should do what the Red Sox did in 2007, coast into the playoff and make sure everyone is healthy.

Carlos Zambrano missed his MRI today and will undergo the scan tomorrow.

Jesus Flores sprained his ankle in the collision with Chase Utley Tuesday night. He should be back before the season ends.

The short outing by Carlos Zambrano wasn't just the Cubs being careful. Zambrano is injured:

So it was a bit of a surprise when Cubs manager Lou Piniella revealed that Zambrano left because of arm problems. Zambrano will have his right arm examined Wednesday.

Any absence could affect the Cubs, who are trying to hold on to first place in the NL Central, not to mention the best record in the league. With starter Rich Harden being skipped for precautionary reasons this week, this is news the Cubs didn't need to hear.

"He told our pitching coach he wasn't feeling good," Piniella said. "It has to be in his arm. I just don't know. We'll let you know tomorrow when we find out."

The Cubs are a deep team with an offense that's capable of winning with a less talented staff. I doubt that injuries to both Zambrano and Harden would keep them out of the playoffs at this point. It does, however, lower their chances of getting to the World Series given the front-line starters of the DBacks, Brewers and Mets, should any of those teams earn a playoff berth.

Ben Sheets leaves the game after five innings and 54 pitches for a pinch hitter. The Mets announcers just reported that Sheets left with a tight left groin. The Brewers lead 1-0, so Sheets is in line for the win.

Jeff Kent needs knee surgery:

Jeff Kent will undergo an operation on his left knee Tuesday that could end his season and 17-year career. An MRI exam this morning showed that Kent, who is contemplating retirement, had a torn medial meniscus.

Manager Joe Torre and General Manager Ned Colletti said they were holding out hope that the 40-year old Kent could return this season.

Kent was on a good roll until a few days ago. Overall, however, his 2008 season was a big disappointment as both his OBA and his slugging percentage collapsed. Without the injury, he might have continued his hot hitting and helped the Dodgers to a playoff spot. That is going to be tougher for the team now.

Howie Kendrick re-injures a hamstring and heads to the 15-day disabled list. With their huge lead in the AL West, the Angels can afford to give Kendrick all the time he need to heal for the playoffs.

I took a good look at Kedrick's stats, since the article described him as "one of the Los Angeles Angels' top hitters this season." That's true, but I wonder if they would say the same about Mike Napoli. Mike's batting average is 90 points lower than Kendrick, but his OBA is one point higher and his slugging percentage is 66 points higher. Kendrick really has a low number of walks for a .300 hitter.

Josh Beckett won't start Friday against the White Sox. Instead, he's visiting Dr. James Andrews. That's seldom good news.

Evan Longoria is still looking to return on September first when rosters expand.

He will probably wait another couple of days to start swinging a bat.

"I want to be pain-free before I start swinging. I just need it to where it's comfortable when I swing," Longoria said. "It's definitely not pain-free, but there's a lot less pain than there has been in the past week. That's a big plus. I'm just tentative to put it to full-boar yet."

The Rays weathered the injury well so far, going 11-4 since Evan broke the wrist.

The Red Sox finally put J.D. Drew on the disabled list after playing a man short for a week.

The Mets place John Maine on the disabled list due to a bone spur:

Maine said rest helped alleviate the pain the first time and hopes another break will make him available for the final couple of weeks of the regular season.

This will put pressure on Oliver Perez to step up. If he can pitch like he did in July, it should help.

Johnny Cueto right elbow is strained and he'll miss at least one start for the Reds. He's been pitching better in August, so that appears to be a loss for the Reds.

It what was an otherwise wild game, the Reds might have lost Johnny Cueto:

Reds starter Johnny Cueto left after three innings with soreness in his right triceps tendon and will be examined Monday in Cincinnati. Cueto gave up one unearned run but didn't allow a hit and walked three.

This was the fourth extra-inning game of the day.

Josh Beckett continues to experience numbness in his hand and won't start on Tuesday. He could go as early as Friday.

"It's gotten better," he said. "We had the one day (Friday) where it kind of came back. That's why we decided to do what we did. It has gotten better. The treatment and stuff is definitely working."

Francona intends to be "overly cautious" with Beckett, who is 11-9 with a 4.34 ERA in 23 starts.

It seems to be caused by the way he sleeps, so they are putting a cast on his arm at night to protect the arm.

J.D. Drew herniated a disk:

The original lineup had Drew in right field, but he was scratched soon after the clubhouse opened. He was sent to a local hospital for an MRI, where it was learned he had a herniated disc.

"I hope I won't have to go on the disabled list," said Drew, who said he felt good Thursday and thought he'd be able to play Friday. On Friday morning he was a little stiff and took a hot bath in attempt to loosen the stiffness. After the bath his back locked up, and Drew said he felt "progressively worse" during the day. He was having difficulty walking in the locker room.

There's no word on how long he'll be sidelined.

He injured the sheath around the disc back in 2001.

Sean Gallagher and Justin Duchscherer both hit the disabled list for the Oakland Athletics, setting a team record for DL use. It also leads them with an all-lefty rotation:

The A's recalled left-handers Dana Eveland and Dan Meyer from Triple-A Sacramento to join the rotation. Eveland, in his second stint with the A's this season, is scheduled to start on Saturday. Meyer is scheduled to pitch Sunday. He is also in his second stint with Oakland this year.

The team now has an all left-handed, five-man rotation -- including Thursday's starter Greg Smith, Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden. The only other time Oakland has had an all-southpaw rotation was in 1973 with a four-man staff of Vida Blue, Ken Holtzman, Darold Knowles and Paul Lindlad.

Sounds like something sinister is going on in Oakland. I can't imagine an all-lefty rotation works that well. Most hitters are still right-handed, after all.

River Ave. Blues posts the latest on Carl Pavano. He's like death and taxes rolled into one.

Orioles closer George Sherill goes on the 15-day disabled list with a sore shoulder. Right now it doesn't look serious. Former closer Jason Isringhausen looks to miss the rest of the season for the Cardinals. He suffers from a torn tendon in his elbow.

Billy Wagner's elbow isn't healing, and he's likely out for the season. Wagner blew seven saves this season. Feliciano and Heilman have combined to blow five in ten opportunities.

Word comes from Beijing that Matt LaPorta is okay:

The USA Olympic medical staff informed the Indians on Tuesday that outfield prospect Matt LaPorta suffered no ill effects from being hit in the head by a pitch during Monday's game against China.

"He had no symptoms of post-concussion syndrome when he woke up Tuesday morning," said Indians head athletic trainer Lonnie Soloff, who added the back left side of LaPorta's head and neck, where he was hit, was still sore.

That had to be tough for the Indians front office to watch. They trade one of their best players for a potential future star, and then watch him go down in a game half-way around the world. It least it doesn't appear to be too serious an injury.

Josh Beckett is suffering from numbness in his right hand:

"We've got to figure out what ... it is," Beckett said Tuesday. "Obviously, (being pushed back) is not what I want, but at this juncture it needs to happen."

Beckett was scheduled to pitch Saturday against Toronto. Instead, he's tentatively set to start Tuesday night when the Red Sox play New York at Yankee Stadium.

"I don't know. It's still seven days away," he said. "We'll see."

Beckett will undergo tests to determine the cause of the numbness -- and to rule out a serious condition such as a blood clots.

Oil Can Boyd suffered numbness in his arm before he was diagnosed with a blood clot.

It looks like Ian Kinsler will miss the remainder of the season with a sports hernia. At age 26, Kinsler made a major leap in performance this season, raising his OBA about 25 points and his slugging percentage about 70 points over the averages of his first two seasons. Their 2-10 record over their last 12 games pretty much takes Texas out of the playoff picture, so they should concentrate on getting Kinsler well for next season.

Justin Duchscherer left the game against the Twins after 2 2/3 innings due to hip pain. He did not allow a run. Kirk Saarloos has continued the shutout as the Athletics lead the Twins 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh.

MetsBlog.com notes the Mets have a tough decision coming up on Luis Castillo.

Carlos Silva goes on the disabled list with pain in his elbow. He had the pain before he gave up nine runs to the Twins last night, but didn't bother telling the team until after the game.

It's been a bad couple of days for injuries. Tom Glavine returns to the disabled list after a one game return from injury. At his age, you start to wonder if his career is over.

The Angels lost Macier Izturis for the duration:

Maicer Izturis' left thumb injury was far worse than the Angels feared.

The shortstop suffered a torn ligament diving for a grounder Wednesday night against Seattle and will undergo season-ending surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles, putting at least a small damper on the Angels' World Series hopes.

"It's a tough loss," Manager Mike Scioscia said before Friday's game against the Indians. "We feel terrible for Izzy because we know how much a part of the club he was. It's going to put more weight on others to carry the load."

With a .329 OBA and a .362 slugging percentage, Izturis wasn't exactly an offensive force. According to Bill James Online, he ranks 15th in +/- at shortstop. In general, he's okay.

Erik Aybar takes over the position. I don't think he'll make much of a difference.

Chris Carpenter was supposed to miss one start, but instead his strained shoulder places him on the disabled list. It's of course the prudent thing to do as the Cardinals don't want to see Chris's reconstructed elbow damaged due to a faulty shoulder.

Joba Chamberlain threw for six minutes this afternoon.

Aramis Ramirez left tonight's game against the Braves with a hip contusion. He was 2 for 2 with a home run as the Cubs are once again pounding the Braves. It's 11-4 in the top of the seventh as Tom Glavine pitches poorly in his return from the disabled list.

Troy Percival left the game against Oakland with an injury today. Is it time to call up David Price?

Shoulder tendinitis puts Dan Giese on the disabled list, which may accelerate the return of Phil Hughes to the majors.

Brad Penny didn't last long in the majors as he returns to the disabled list.

The move, which came a day after a stiff-shouldered Penny was tagged for six runs in a season-low three innings, was one of several the Dodgers made today.

Right-hander Cory Wade, who hasn't pitched since Saturday because of discomfort in his shoulder, also went on the DL. Taking the places of Penny and Wade on the active roster are left-hander Eric Stults and right-hander Tanyon Sturtze, who were called up from triple-A Las Vegas.

Manager Joe Torre conceded that losing Penny was a serious blow, but noted, "We're used to playing this game without Brad Penny. It's been a fact of life for the last month or so."

Update: You can add Alberto Gonzalez to the list as well.

Aaron Rowand left the game against the Astros with a back injury. Rowand, Winn, and Aaron's replacement Fred Lewis are the only three hitters having decent years for the Giants. If this is more than a day-to-day injury the Giants will score even fewer runs.

It looks like Tim Lincecum will make his next start after getting hit with a line drive:

One day after getting drilled by a Brad Ausmus line drive, Lincecum seemed to be walking normally. The side of his right leg, just below the kneecap, didn't appear overly swollen, though Lincecum (whose legs aren't exactly in the Bengie Molina range) considered it lots of swelling.

The area was reddened, and Lincecum spent much of his time in ice. He rode a stationary bike and did his usual rotator-cuff and abdominal work and plans to throw on the side today or Friday.

Shall we start calling him Bird-Leg Lincecum?

Joel Zumaya returns to the disable list with a sore shoulder.

The Boston Red Sox placed Mike Lowell on the disabled list today:

Righthander pitcher David Pauley has been recalled from Pawtucket to take Lowell's spot on the roster.

Lowell struck out looking in the seventh inning after having strained his right oblique during the at-bat.

Sounds like Kevin Youkilis will be getting some play at third and Sean Casey at first.

A line drive to the knee forced Tim Lincecum out of the game against the Astros:

The 24-year-old Lincecum fell to the ground as manager Bruce Bochy and the team's medical staff rushed to check on him. Lincecum limped off the field and was replaced by right-hander Keiichi Yabu.

Let's hope it's not serious.

The Dodgers replace Nomar Garciaparra with Andruw Jones on the disabled list.

Baseball Digest Daily alerts me that Evan Longoria is going to be resting his wrist for a while:

Just a day after losing two-time All-Star Carl Crawford the Rays were dealt another blow, as the team announced on Monday evening that All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria will be joining Crawford on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 8. Longoria was hit on his right wrist in the ninth inning of Thursday's loss to the Mariners and although initial X-rays taken after the game were negative, the Rays have now announced that the rookie's wrist is fractured.

Longoria started hitting his stride early in June and stayed hot up until his injury. We'll have to wait to see how long this is going to take to heal. It's a real blow to the Rays offense.

Update: David Oritz is resting his wrist tonight.

Doctors repaired Carlos Lee's finger and appear satisfied with the results.

Orlando Hudson underwent the first of two surgeries to repair his left wrist and will miss the rest of the season. It's a blow to the Diamondbacks both offensively and defensively.

Carl Crawford follows Carlos Lee onto the disabled list with a bad finger.

Carl Crawford has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a subluxation of his right middle finger tendon, and his status for the remainder of the season is unknown.

Rocco Baldelli was activated off the disabled list to take Crawford's place on the roster; Eric Hinske was penciled in as Sunday's left fielder.

I don't know how much this really hurts. Crawford was an out machine this year, posting a .319 OBA with little power. If the Rays had picked up Jason Bay, they wouldn't be missing Crawford much. Baldelli hit great at AA, but we'll see how it translates to the majors.

Chris Carpenter leaves the game after 66 pitches. He throws a 0-1 pitch inside to Jim Edmonds, then calls out the trainer. He pats his upper arm, indicating the area that's bothering him. No work yet on what is bothering him.

Carpenter was working very efficiently but had allowed two runs. Ron Villone comes in and induces a double play grounder that goes through Kennedy's legs and plates the Cubs third run of the game.

Carlos Lee goes down for the season with a broken finger. It's amazing how something so small can be so important to a player's performance. This likely kills any chance for a wild card comeback by the Astros. Lee's stats surged since the All-Star break. He was slugging .667 with 24 RBI in 21 games.

It looks like Orlando Hudson played his last game of the 2008 season Saturday night:

Hudson either broke or dislocated a bone in his left wrist in the sixth inning of an 11-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Chase Field, an injury that likely means his season will end early for the second year in a row and perhaps closes the curtain on his career with the Diamondbacks.

"We're not 100 percent sure whether or not he has to have surgery," manager Bob Melvin said. "Probably a pretty good chance we'll know in the morning. If he has the surgery, he's out for the rest of the year. If he doesn't, there's still a chance he could be out for the rest of the year."

The DBacks acquired Hudson as a defensive second baseman, but he's hit very well for the team in his three years as well. With Toronto, his averages came in at .270/.327/.417. Since he joined the Diamondbacks, those increased to .294/.365/.448. So the Diamondbacks lose both offensively and defensively with this injury. His likely replacement, Augie Ojeda, posted pretty good OBAs the last three years but with no power.

A week into August, the team is neither hitting nor pitching well. They've been outscored 52-37 in nine games for a 3-6 record. The only saving grace so far is that even with Manny, the Dodgers aren't scoring that much better, 36 runs in eight games. Their pitching is spot on, allowing just 28 runs for a 4-4 record. Right now, the Diamondbacks need a boost, and this injury does just the opposite.

Orlando Hudson leaves the game against the Braves with what looks like a serious wrist injury. Brian McCann singled with the bases loaded, then tried to advance to second on the throw. The catcher threw to second, but the throw was wide to the first base side and Hudson, in an effort to catch it, dove into McCann. His glove was bent all the way back, and he walks off the field with the trainer supporting the Orlando's left hand.

McCann tries to steal third, the throw is wide again, and this time Reynolds is hurt. He stays in the game, however, but he was limping for a minute. Atlanta leads 9-3 in the top of the sixth.

Andy Pettitte may miss his next start. Since Melky Cabrera lost his starting outfield job, maybe he can become the reverse Ankiel and start pitching!

The Mets remain pessimistic about Ryan Church returning to the lineup this season:

"I'm not optimistic about that," manager Jerry Manuel said of getting him back. "It's very foreign to all of us and we just aren't sure as to where it could go. And historically, it hasn't gone in our direction.

"We've been going through this, I don't know how long. Two months? Whatever. But, if it does turn out to be something favorable for us, it would be very, very welcome."

Via Bronx Banter, the New York Times discusses Joba Chamberlain's injury:

Tendinitis is a vague term that can indicate a tear of some degree. Jorge Posada said in May that he had rotator-cuff tendinitis, but he actually had a tear in his subscapularis muscle. He eventually had labrum surgery.

Reminded of that, Mussina guessed that Posada aggravated his condition by throwing for so long before giving in to the pain. Girardi said tendinitis was nothing alarming.

"We're not going to rush anything, but that's pretty good diagnosis," he said. "Tendinitis is something that you could probably walk around and find it in 75 percent of the players."

Ian Kennedy pitched well at AAA. I'm sure the Yankees were looking forward to Ian improving the rotation, now they hope he can keep it from getting worse.

The Yankees broadcast called the injury shoulder tendinitis. There's no structural damage.

Tiffany Berryman is hearing that Joba Chamberlain has a rotator cuff tear, but she can't confirm the rumors.

Joba Chamberlain goes on the disabled list, but the Yankees haven't explained the injury yet.

Asbrubal Cabrera trips near the third base coaching box at Tropicana Field as he's walking out to take the field for the bottom of the sixth. He needs to come out of the game, and due to Marte pinch hitting for the DH, Wedge is limited to the moves he can make without losing the designated hitter.

Update: Sal Fasano ends up playing first. Garko started the game at DH, but Wedge removed him for not hustling.

Joba is going to see Dr. Andrews. That's seldom good news.

Billy Wagner goes on the disabled list with a strained forearm:

Wagner had an MRI exam and X-rays on his pitching arm Tuesday. The tests showed no structural damage, but the forearm strain requires rest.

"It's like a pulled hamstring," he said.

The left-hander is 0-1 with a 2.30 ERA and 27 saves in 45 appearances. After sitting out a game with a sore shoulder two weeks ago, Wagner began feeling discomfort near his elbow while pitching in Florida last Tuesday.

Seven blown saves is the most Wagner's recorded in a season since 2000, when he was 6/15 for Houston.

Joba Chamberlain gives up three runs in the bottom of the fifth, then leaves with what appears to be a shoulder injury, as that's where he pointed while talking to the trainer on the mound.

He was almost out of the inning early when Ian Kinsler nubbed one in front of the plate. Pudge pounced, threw to second, and because Kinsler didn't run, the Yankees got an easy double play. One of the other umps, however, said it hit Kinsler in the box, foul ball. Kinsler walked, and scored on a Michael Young three-run homer. The Rangers lead 5-4.

The Yankees announcers were wondering why Girardi didn't warm up Mariano Rivera when Edwar Ramirez got in trouble in the 8th inning today. Rivera was suffering from back spasms:

Rivera said his back started nagging him between the shoulder blades after he took the loss in Friday night's 1-0 defeat against the Angels.

The All-Star closer said it was nothing to be concerned about, but it was uncertain whether he'd be available to pitch Monday night at Texas in the opener of a 10-game trip.

The Yankees will just need to score enough runs to alleviate the need for a closer.

Both Adam Jones and Luke Scott are running on bad wheels right now.

The Mets put John Maine on the disabled list and send Billy Wagner for an MRI. That's two of their three most important pitchers with injuries as the Mets are sinking once again in the NL East. They're losing 4-0 to the Astros in the top of the ninth.

Update: The Mets do lose 4-0, failing to pass the Marlins. Former Mets third baseman Ty Wigginton does some damage, doubling, homering and scoring twice.

Phil Hughes pitched more impressively than Carl Pavano last night. If Phil keeps making that kind of progress, he may be back in the Yankees rotation by mid-August.

Joe Girardi says Chien-Ming Wang won't return for the stretch drive.

"The chances of getting him back on September 1st is zero," Girardi said. "October 1st is possible."

Wang, a 19-game winner each of the past two seasons, was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA when he got hurt. Girardi said he wouldn't hesitate to throw Wang back into the rotation just as soon as he's ready to go, pennant race or not.

"I would not hesitate," Girardi said. "As long as he's healthy we'll throw him out there."

That seems to leave Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes as the best chances to improve the Rasner/Ponson end of the rotation. Kennedy is pitching well at AAA. Hughes made his first rehab start, as did this pitcher, lurking in the shadows.

The Mets broadcast just mentioned that John Maine suffered a strain of his rotator cuff. It's not clear than he'll need to go on the disabled list, but with days off, the Mets could go two turns through the rotation without Maine.

Nomar Garciaparra may be headed to the disabled list for the third time this season:

The Dodgers' pursuit of a shortstop before Thursday's non-waiver trading deadline could intensify after an MRI exam Monday on Nomar Garciaparra's left knee revealed a minor sprain of his medial collateral ligament.

Similar injuries typically sideline players for about two weeks, meaning the shortstop could be headed for the disabled list for the third time this season.

Nomar is actually hitting for power in his short time healthy with the Dodgers, actually plugging the offensive gap at shortstop.

The Dodgers failed to gain ground on the Diamondbacks last night. They fell behind San Francisco 7-0. They did rally for six runs before the Giants bullpen shut them down with 3 2/3 one hit innings. They remain a game back in the NL West, one game under .500.

John Maine wanted to pitch through the pain in Florida Monday night, but his coaches would not risk a bigger injury:

"I said I was sore, but capable of pitching," said Maine.

That was good enough for the Mets to give him the ball, but by the fourth inning pitching coach Dan Warthen was growing concerned.

The Mets let him go out for the fifth, but quickly knew he wouldn't finish.

"I didn't like that his arm angle dropped," Warthen said of Maine's body language, figuring compensation for the shoulder could lead to problems elsewhere. "We were worried he might blow out his elbow."

As they should be. Maine is too valuable to the rotation right now to take any risks. It cost the Mets the game, but it did not cost Maine the season.

The Marlins scheduled Anibal Sanchez to pitch on Thursday. The team keeps getting better.

Jorge Posada and the Yankees opted for surgery on the catcher's shoulder:

Posada was debating whether to have the surgery or to try to come back after rest and rehabilitation. But after Posada's batting practice session today at Yankee Stadium, GM Brian Cashman said surgery was "the obvious way to go."

Recovery from the surgery could take up to six months, which means Posada may not be ready for the start of spring training next year.

Jose Molina is pretty much an offensive black hole, but he's doing a great job with the pitching staff and controlling the running game. This may lead to the Yankees going after one of the Texas catchers.

The Braves place their best hitter and best pitcher on the disabled list:

The Braves also optioned left-hander JoJo Reyes to Triple-A Richmond. Atlanta recalled pitcher Charlie Morton and catcher Clint Sammons from Richmond and activated reliever Jeff Bennett from the disabled list.

At 7 1/2 games back, the Braves are not out of it, but this sure isn't going to make it easy for a comeback. I would guess this would make a Teixeira trade somewhat more likely.

Aaron Hill joins the list of players taking a very long time to recover from a concussion:

"I've heard all the stories," Hill said of the Matheny case. "He was telling Jeremy, `Just tell him don't push it; it's the worst thing to do.'"

Hill is heeding Matheny's words. And if avoiding stress is the way to go, then there's a certain serendipity that he and the Jays were able to reach agreement on a guaranteed multi-year contract in May. Goals collide. Hill won't worry about his future and the Jays aren't pressured to rush him back. Perfect.

"You could look at it that way," Hill said. "Obviously, for anybody it's nice to have that security. But even if it didn't happen, I'm still young. I still have a long time to play. It would have been one year of a setback."

The Jays were 30-25 with Hill playing, 23-27 without him.

Carlos Gomez injured himself making a catch:

Minnesota Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez was immobilized and taken from the field on a cart after crashing into the padded wall while making a spectacular catch in the first inning of Friday night's game against the Cleveland Indians.

After a long run, Gomez jumped as he neared the wall and caught Ben Francisco's drive before slamming into it on his right side. He crumpled on the warning track and, while in obvious pain, shoveled the ball to left fielder Delmon Young. As Gomez writhed around grabbing his lower back, Sizemore tagged up and scored all the way from second base.

Gomez remained on the ground for several minutes and was attended to by trainers for both teams before being placed on a backboard and lifted onto a cart.

I hope it's not too serious.

Chipper Jones left tonight's game against the Marlins with a hamstring injury.

Jorge Posada went on the disabled list Monday, and this time the rest of the season is in doubt:

Posada said he was planning on starting a rehab program Monday before discussing his options with Altchek. Posada, who acknowledged more damage in his shoulder beyond an injured labrum, could miss part of next season if he waits to have surgery.

It was a tough call to re-sign Posada to a new contract. I understand the Yankees were rewarding him for many years of great service, but that contract doesn't really look good right now. I expect Jorge, if surgery is successful, will take Giambi's place at first, since I don't expect New York to re-sign Jason. I wonder how Posada's season will also effect the Red Sox's offer to Varitek.

This is a sad story. Baltimore's Adam Loewen fractured his elbow for a second time, ending his pitching career. He'll try to reinvent himself as an outfielder, a la Rick Ankiel:

Rather than rehabilitating again, Loewen is expected to report to the instructional league this fall and try to reinvent himself as an outfielder. Loewen hasn't faced live pitching regularly since 2003, when he played first base for Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla., batting .353 with a homer and 38 RBIs in 45 games.

"If I did choose the other path of pitching, it would be a long road with no clear ending," said Loewen, who pitched in seven games this season, starting four of them. He last pitched July 6 against the Texas Rangers, leaving the game after feeling elbow pain. "This is not a simple decision, but it's right there in front of me and it was easy to make for me.

Good luck to him. Playing in the National League, Ankiel was hitting all along. He had four extra-base hits in 2000. Working for Loewen is that he's only 22 years old, so he's relearning hitting while he's still growing toward his athletic peak.

Derrick Goold takes a look at how Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter are recovering from their injuries.

The Dodgers lose Takashi Saito to an elbow injury:

General manager Ned Colletti said it is difficult to replace a closer.

"As far as trading for a closer, it's a lot like trying to acquire a shortstop - it's a premium position and most teams don't carry an excess," Colletti said from the All-Star game in New York.

Manager Joe Torre said Sunday that Jonathan Broxton would be the team's closer until further notice. But Torre was unsure who would take over for Broxton as setup man.

Am I missing something, or doesn't Hong-Chih Kuo post numbers nearly identical to Saito? Since Kuo pitches mostly in the sixth and seventh inning, wouldn't it be less upsetting to the set roles of the bullpen to move Hong-Chih to the closer spot and find someone else to work the sixth? It should be easier to acquire a third or fourth reliever than a closer.

Red ace Aaron Harang gets placed on the disabled list due to a right forearm strain. It was clear something was wrong as four of his last six starts were poor.

It appears Mark Mulder's career is over:

Opening a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cardinals lefthander walked from the field after managing one out, a strikeout of shortstop Jimmy Rollins, followed by two walks. The same pitch that struck out Rollins caused Mulder pain so severe he could not throw any of his last eight pitches from the same angle or with the same force.

...

The Cardinals are expected to put Mulder on the disabled list today and promote lefthanded prospect Jaime Garcia from Class AAA Memphis. Mulder is scheduled to have an MRI today in St. Louis; the procedure may be little more than a formality for a pitcher who has needed two shoulder operations and has had four unsuccessful rehab assignments since earning his last major-league win in June 2006.

Mulder did put together six great seasons. At the end of 2005 he was 97-50, a .660 winning percentage. While he was never much of a strikeout pitcher, he walked less than three batters per nine innings and allowed 19.5 HR per 200 innings. It's just another example of how fragile pitchers can be.

Mark Mulder walks two batters and leaves the game against the Phillies after recording just one out:

The Cardinals said Mulder had left shoulder discomfort and will be evaluated on Thursday.

Mulder, coming back from two shoulder operations, made his first start since September and hasn't won a game in 25 months. The former 20-game winner struck out Jimmy Rollins to start the game, then walked Shane Victorino and Chase Utley.

It seems to me the Cardinals rushed Mulder back a bit. I wonder if this means the Cardinals are more likely to trade for someone like A.J. Burnett. Burnett gave up one run through the first five innings against the Orioles tonight, but then allowed six in the sixth. That's not helping his trade value.

The Phillies break their scoreless streak with a run in the 5th, and lead the Cardinals 1-0.

Bob Sikes notes that Ryan Church's concussion history goes back to 2005.

Ryan Church goes back on the disabled list due to lingering effects of his concussion. I'm really afraid this is turning into a Mike Matheny situation.

Jeff Suppan goes on the disabled list, opening up a spot for C.C. Sabathia. I suspected the Brewers would send McClung back to the bullpen where he pitched more effectively this season, but Suppan and Bush have higher ERAs, and Suppan wasn't showing Bush's improvement.

Ryan Church can't play for the Mets today:

Ryan Church is not playing today. He's still feeling it from the migraines. He's not supposed to be out in the sunlight because the sensitivity to his eyes can trigger another one.

I don't know if these are concussion related, but his head is clearly not 100% at this point.

Rafael Furcal won't be coming back after the All-Star break:

Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal will have surgery on Thursday to relieve pressure on a disk in his lower back and could be out at least eight weeks, manager Joe Torre said.

Even with the great number Furcal posted early this year, Dodgers shortstops own a .244/.316/.373 line. That's not great, but take away Furcal and it's just awful.

I did not know someone could fracture a testicle.

Halos Heaven presents a photo essay on Kelvim Escobar's rehabilitation assignment.

Chad Cordero's shoulder forces him to miss the rest of the season:

Cordero will have surgery on the shoulder, which has been bothering him all season. The date for the procedure has not been set.

Cordero has pitched in only six games, allowing one run in 4 1/3 innings. Jon Rauch has been serving as the closer in Cordero's absence.

Despite last night, Rauch has pitched well for the Nationals. The problem is, instead of having a 1-2 punch at the end of the game, Washington just has the 2. There's really nothing backing up Jon in the bullpen. So unless the starters can go eight innings, there's there danger the setup men are going to get lit up.

Miguel Cabrera left the Tigers/Twins game with a tight left hip flexor. The Tigers were down 4-1 but scored twice in both the seventh and eighth inning to take a 5-4 lead over Minnesota. The Twins bullpen, so tough during the winning streak, has given up three runs in 2 1/3 innings so far tonight.

Update: The Tigers hang on for the 5-4 win. They now trail the Twins by 2 1/2 games for second place in the AL Central. Detroit finishes the month 19-8 while the Twins go 18-10.

The Astros defeated the light hitting Dodgers 4-1 this evening, but lost Roy Oswalt to an injury:

Oswalt allowed one run and six hits with nine strikeouts through six innings. He grounded out to relief pitcher Ramon Troncoso to end the Astros' half of the sixth. Houston led 4-1.

Catcher Brad Ausmus walked before Oswalt batted and while he was in the dugout putting on his equipment, backup catcher Humberto Quintero caught Oswalt's warmup pitches for the seventh.

Oswalt called Quintero to the mound and after a brief conversation, Quintero signaled to the dugout. Manager Cecil Cooper and assistant athletic trainer Rex Jones came out to check on Oswalt and he walked off the field with Jones. Oswalt threw 78 pitches.

I'll watch for more information Tuesday morning. The Dodger picked up eleven hits this evening, but only two were for extra bases, and only one came with runners in scoring position.

Lance Berkman hit home run 22. He trails Utley and Uggla by one for the NL lead.

It looks like Chipper Jones is not healing as quickly as expected, and he's likely going to go on the disabled list. With the expectation that the time off heals the injury, this makes it a bit more likely that Chipper will hit .400, since he'll have a smaller number of at bats this season.

The Tigers will sit Magglio Ordonez Sunday afternoon after suffering back spasms on Saturday. He hasn't had a day off all season, and this seems like a good time for one. He's fallen off in June after a very hot May.

Jason Isringhausen recorded the last out of the sixth, but appeared to be in a bit of distress warming up for the seventh. He seems to be favoring his left leg, but he's staying in the game, hitting the low 90s on the radar gun, and getting outs. The Cardinals and Tigers are tied at one in the bottom of the seventh. Pujols is perfect on the day with three hits and a walk in four trips to the plate.

Albert Pujols is back in the lineup for the Cardinals today. He's the designated hitter, not the first baseman.

Update: Albert singles his first time up.

Brian O'Nora had a broken bat hit him in the head tonight:

O'Nora was injured in the bottom of the second inning when Olivo's bat broke on a groundout to shortstop. The umpire walked over to the corner of Kansas City's dugout, where he was treated by Royals trainer Nick Swartz and led down the tunnel.

The Royals later announced that O'Nora had a small cut on his forehead and was taken to St. Luke's Hospital for further evaluation.

Does anyone know if it's a maple bat?

Both Hidekei Matsui and Johnny Damon are hurting, so the Yankees called up Justin Christian.

Christian, 28, was batting .309 with 39 RBIs, 35 runs scored and 18 steals for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year. A former infielder, he has played all three outfield positions this season. He was never drafted -- not out of high school, Skyline Junior College, Auburn University or Southeastern Missouri State University. He was playing independent ball with the River City (Mo.) Rascals in the independent Frontier League when the Yankees signed him in 2004.

"It's kind of a dream come true," Christian said, "but I'm trying to keep it all in perspective right now."

Girardi said one reason Christian got the call over fellow Triple-A speedster Brett Gardner is that the Yankees face five lefties in the next six days. but also, Girardi said, "He's earned it."

He's playing well this year, but don't expect anything great out of Justin. His minor league OBA is okay, but he has little power.

Nick Johnson won't play again in 2008:

First baseman Nick Johnson will miss the rest of the season, the Washington Nationals confirmed today. Dr. Richard Berger of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., operated today on the Nationals' clean-up hitter and repaired a small split tear in a ligament on the ulnar side of his wrist.

A team announcement about the procedure said that Johnson is expected to miss the remainder of the 2008 season.

I like Nick. I like his selectivity at the plate, his smooth fielding, and the fact he looks like Babe Ruth. Given his injury history, however, I'm not sure I'd want him on my team at this point. Easily injured and slow to heal is just not a good combination.

Jeff Francoeur received a contact lens for his right eye to help with seeing the ball at night:

His vision in the eye has deteriorated since Francoeur was struck in the face by a pitch while squaring to bunt in a 2004 minor league game, and he thinks it might be a cause for the wide gap between his offensive statistics in day and night games.

He's hitting like an MVP during the day this season, and like Mario Mendoza at night. If this doesn't work, he might have to play for the Cubs.

It looks like Felix Hernandez's sprained ankle isn't too bad:

To start at the end and work backward, it appears the Mariners averted disaster. In fact, the news after the game was upbeat, and Hernandez himself was in a good mood, vowing not to miss his next start.

"I'm going to pitch next time. For sure," he said.

The Mariners weren't willing to go quite that far, but manager Jim Riggleman said X-rays were negative, and termed the sprain "mild."

"We hope we can get him back out there as soon as possible," Riggleman said. "[Trainer] Rick Griffin is pretty encouraged. He may miss a couple of days off his next start, but we're not thinking DL at all."

Since Felix is the only player the Mariners can depend on at this point (offensively too, after last night's grand slam), his going on the DL would certainly devastate this team.

Kevin Youkilis left the game after a freak injury. The infielders were warming up between innings and a throw bounced in front of Kevin at first, came up and hit him in the eye. That left him with a swollen black eye, and Moss is in to play first, as Sean Casey is serving a suspension. The game is scoreless in the bottom fifth as both Haren and Beckett are on tonight.

Bradford Files has the results of Curt Schillings surgery:

But the biggest source of good news for Schilling was that the rotator cuff was only partially separated from the bone, needing just one stitch to bring it together. If the rotator cuff had been damaged to the point where surgery was needed, the pitcher's hopes of returning to the mound in 12 months would not have been possible. So, the prognosis basically leaves the door open for a return.

"It certainly is possible," said Morgan regarding another attempted return to the mound for Schilling.

I wonder if Curt will think it's worth the work. I don't think the Red Sox would sign him to another contract until they were sure he could contribute.

Eric Bedard pitched three shutout innings then left the game against the Braves with back spams. The bullpen is doing a good job in relief as the Mariners lead the Braves 2-1 in the seventh. Not a great way for Riggleman to start his tenure with the Mariners, losing one of his front line pitchers.

Jolbert Cabrera went four for four tonight, and was on first base in the top of the seventh when a ball got away from Molina. Cabrera took off second and just made it on a hands first slide. Unfortunately, he jammed a hand on the slide and is out of the game. He's the fourth Reds shortstop to go down with an injury this year. Hairston also injured his hand on a similar slide into second. Maybe Dusty should institute a feet first slide rule.

It turns out Schilling's doctor was right and the Red Sox were wrong about the condition of Curt's shoulder:

The Globe's Gordon Edes reports that the Red Sox have confirmed that Schilling will have surgery, and that GM Theo Epstein and manager Terry Francona will discuss this development before the Red Sox-Cardinals game at Fenway Park tonight. Schilling will not be at the ballpark, according to the club.

Schilling said the major procedure would be performed by Dr. Craig Morgan, who thought Schilling should have chosen surgery in the offseason rather than the rehab program recommended by the Red Sox. When asked if this meant that Dr. Morgan's initial analysis of the injury and rehab was correct, Schilling replied, "I don't know ... and I don't care.

"There's a chance a lot of things could happen here. My season's over. There's a pretty decent chance that I've thrown my last pitch forever, so I don't care. It doesn't matter. I'm going in to make it not hurt anymore, which is pretty much all I care about."

Dr. Morgan's reputation just went up a peg.

Schilling had an impressive career for someone who didn't pitch consistently well until he was 28 years old. From 1995 through 2007, Schilling walked just 1.74 batters per nine innings, sixth among pitchers with at least 1200 innings. Curt, however, was the only one of the leaders to combine that low walk rate with an extremely high strikeout rate. He pitched some memorable playoff games along the way, including game 7 of the 2001 World Series and the bloody sock game against the Yankees. I hope he keeps blogging and gives us an insider's view of the game from the outside.

The ESPN broadcast just mentioned that Carlos Zambrano left the game due to shoulder discomfort. He walked four and struck out just two in 6 2/3 innings tonight. This could be a much bigger injury than Soriano's hand.

Both Bartolo Colon and Brad Penny both go on the disabled list. Bartolo hurt himself batting Monday night, while Penny's tendinitis may explain his poor start this season.

Update: Paul Konerko hits the disabled list as well. With a .322 OBA and a .368 slugging percentage, this might actually help the White Sox offense.

Yadier Molina is out of the hospital and will be with the Cardinals in Kansas City. It's not clear if he will play.

David Ortiz is out of his cast:

David Ortiz, who had been in a hard cast since June 2 to protect the partial tear of the tendon sheath in his left wrist, had the cast cut off Monday and replaced with a removable splint.

This will enable the Sox' designated hitter to perform some range of motion exercises to help with his rehabilitation. While it is far too soon to place a timetable on Ortiz's return to the lineup, manager Terry Francona said the switch from a hard cast to a removable one constituted a step in the right direction.

I just saw on NESN that Kevin Youkilis will miss tonight's game due to back spasms.

Chien-Ming Wang is gone for a while:

Wang will be in a protective boot for six weeks. That's July 28. He would need at least four weeks to get his arm back in shape to pitch - assuming that he is fully healed after six weeks.

That's Aug. 25 at the earliest.

I wonder if there is any water work he could do during the healing process to speed his return to the majors? Bo Jackson did that to help recover from his hip. I wonder if throwing in water would allow Wang to keep enough weight off the foot to at least play catch?

Yadier Molina suffered a concussion after his collision with Eric Bruntlett. Let's hope the Cardinals do a better job with Yadier than the Mets did with Church.

There's plenty of angst in the New York media over Chien-Ming Wang's foot. The speculation runs toward a very serious injury that threatens the rest of Chien's season:

The injury is to the top of Wang's foot, the same general area that reliever Brian Bruney injured when he tripped while covering first base in April. Bruney was found to have a Lisfranc injury and is expected to miss a minimum of three months.

Wang has symptoms of the same injury, including swelling and the inability to bear weight on the foot; he left Minute Maid Park on crutches, in a soft cast. Bruney's injury was in the middle of the foot, and Wang's is believed to be in the webbing of his toes, between his big toe and second toe.

Here's some information on Lisfranc injuries. They are generally tough to diagnose, hence the MRI for Wang.

The other thing these stories expect is for the Yankees to overcompensate:

"You're going to go through injuries, and you've got to find a way to get it done," Girardi said. "But it's not easy to replace 19 wins."

As it happens, though, another 19-game winner from 2007 may hit the trade market soon. With their playoff hopes fading, the Cleveland Indians are likely to trade Sabathia, last year's American League Cy Young award winner, who won again on Sunday and has a 2.21 earned run average over his last 11 starts.

The Yankees were interested in him before Wang's injury, and their need has become more acute. Sabathia can be a free agent after the season, and the Yankees have the payroll space to afford him and the prospects to obtain him.

I disagree with the idea that Wang is difficult to replace. For one thing, Chien-Ming holds a 4.07 ERA in 2008. That ranks 48th in the majors among pitchers with at least 70 innings pitched, between Hiroki Kuroda and Odalis Perez. Those two have a combined 5-11 record, reflecting the poor offense that play behind them.

Longer term, of course, Wang is a very good pitcher. Since the start of 2005, his rookie season, Wang ranks 18th in ERA among pitchers with 500 innings. Once again, his record is out of whack with the surrounding ERAs. Wang is 54-20, a .730 winning percentage. Hudson and Harang, 17th and 19th respectively, are 50-35 (.588) and 46-39 (.541). On a team that wasn't an offensive power house, Wang would more likely be 41-33 over that time. So really, the Yankees should be thinking about replacing a fourteen game, not a nineteen game winner.

This is very important. New York could replace Wang with Harang, for example, for a lower cost than Sabathia. Harang holds a cheap contract that goes through 2010 with an option for 2011, and he's not a Cy Young award winner. Since Jocketty and Baker both have a history of liking veterans, maybe the Yankees could get away with losing fewer prospects by throwing in Bobby Abreu.

On the other hand, there are reasons to trade for Sabathia even if Wang is healthy. If the main reason for a trade is to replace Wang, however, the Yankees should be able to replace his ERA, and likely his wins, without acquiring one of the best pitchers in the game.

The Yankees really don't like interleague play after today, as Chien-Ming Wang injured an ankle running the bases. Peter Abraham got in a couple of questions:

Wang did not want to meet with the media. But as he left the clubhouse and was taken away on a golf cart, I managed to get two questions in:

Q: How does it feel?

A: "It hurts a lot."

Q: Do you think it's bad?

A: "Maybe. I'll know tomorrow

."

He's unlikely to make his next start. This might give Ian Kennedy an opening to work back into the rotation, or Dan Giese, who did an excellent job as Joba's shadow.

The Cardinals and Phillies are tied at six in the top of the ninth. With runners at first and third, Rollins grounded to the first baseman, who threw home to Yadier Molina. Bruntlett, coming home from third, did not slide, and smashed into Molina's head as he tried to avoid the tag. Brunlett was out, and Molina is being kept very still in case there's a neck injury. They're taking him out on a body board to keep him immobilized.

Just saw the replay in slow motion, and Bruntlett came over Molina's back and drove Yadier's head into the ground. Let's hope this isn't serious and just a precaution.

An inflamed elbow sidelined Victor Martinez Wednesday night:

"Victor got hurt on a swing in the first inning," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He winced when it happened. It's something that's been bothering him on and off all year. It must have been one of those swings that bit him a little more than usual."

Martinez, who has battled a sore left hamstring since Opening Day, was not required to make a throw during the first inning so it is uncertain when he was injured.

It's clear the injuries destroyed Martinez's ability to hit this season. He holds a .332 OBA and a .333 slugging percentage. His career numbers are .370 and .463. He wasn't helping the team, and a stint on the DL will probably do both parties some good.

The pitch that hit Soriano last night broke a finger and he'll be out six weeks. The Cubs lose their highest slugging regular, but also the one with the lowest OBA.

Tom Glavine's elbow breaks down, putting 3/5 of the Braves projected starting rotation on the disabled list. Smoltz, Glavine and Hampton are by default turning the Braves into a young team. Old rotations can be pretty good, providing they stay healthy. That turned out not to be the case with the Braves.

While we were waiting for Albert Pujols's elbow to snap, his calf gave out instead:

The Cardinals' first baseman crumpled one step out of the batter's box during the seventh inning after aggravating a left calf strain that limited him to pinch-hit duty during last Thursday's split doubleheader in Washington. This time Pujols screamed out in pain and had to be helped from the field.

Albert's runs created stands at 56 right now, about 1/6 of the St. Louis offense. Right now, St. Louis has a three-game cushion in the wild card race, so they'll need to bank on that and hope the injury doesn't sideline the slugger too long.

Phil Hughes writes on his blog that he is pain free and received his new glasses.

John Delcos rips the Mets over the handling of Ryan Church's concussion:

Church said he told the team he felt he could play and absolves the team of all blame. He's being the good soldier. And, don't forget, he was thinking with a head injury.

I asked Omar Minaya, sarcastically, I admit, where Church got his medical degree so he could make such a decision. The Mets weren't happy with the question and told me so, and my response was to tell them I still thought they mishandled the situation.

He continues:

Then again, why weren't the Mets smart enough to get a second opinion? For that matter, why didn't Church's agent? How about acting in the best interest of your client?

Willie Randolph said concussions weren't common in baseball and little is known about them. When I asked if the team didn't seek advice from the Giants, Jets or Rangers, who deal with concussions all the time, he said he didn't think so.

Well, why the hell not? And, by the way, plenty is known about concussions. Also, while I'm in full attack mode right now, how as manager can you not know what the front office is doing regarding your best player so far this year?

If you don't know, then ask somebody who does.

The Mets and Church screwed up on this one, and I just hope there was no permanent damage.

Adam Wainwright sprained a finger and will miss two weeks on the disabled list. As the Cardinals best starter, it's a tough loss, but he'll probably miss just two starts.

Jerry Hairston, Jr. broke a finger, and will probably be out a month. He's the third Reds shortstop to go on the DL, joining Alex Gonzalez and Jeff Keppinger.

The Mets place Ryan Church on the DL due to his concussion. Let's hope this doesn't turn into another Mike Matheny situation.

Finally, Rickie Weeks's sprained knee will give him two weeks off. Weeks isn't hitting, although he is drawing enough walks to have an OBA in the low .300s. Not great, not terrible. He's playing poorly enough, however, for someone to step in and try to take his job. Hernan Iribarren has a career .378 minor league OBA, although that has come down as he rose through the Brewers system.

Cubs f/x implies that doctors missed Mark Prior's real injury for five years:

Prior's anterior capsule was torn away from the humerus, the bone in the upper arm. Team physicians Heinz Hoenecke and Jan Fronek performed the surgery and said the second injury is normally associated with traumatic events like a fall.

Prior fell on his right shoulder in a collision with Marcus Giles in 2003. Maybe Mark has a chance to come back after all.

Tadahito Iguchi separated a shoulder and will miss at least four weeks. It's another injury that's helping to tear down the Padres season. However, Iguchi wasn't hitting very well, so maybe there's a player out there that can take advantage of the opportunity to play himself into a position.

Jacoby Ellsbury's wrist checked out fine in an MRI.

Manny's hamstring was bothering him, so he was lifted for a pinch runner in the 7th. With the Sox bench thin, Kevin Cash got the call. This may be the only time that ever happens.

Longoria hits a line drive to right-center in the fourth . Ellsbury dives and makes the catch, but injures his hand. With Crisp ejected earlier, the Sox have Carter, Drew and Youkilis left to right.

Carlos Pena hits the disabled list:

Carlos Pena has gone on the 15-day disabled list with a broken left index finger suffered in last night's game in the first inning.

Pena is providing a good example of regression to the mean. After his monster 2007 season, he's back to hitting like his worst years in Detroit.

John Smotz's return from the disabled list proved short as he'll undergo shoulder surgery than will knock him out for the rest of the season:

The Braves have called a media conference at 11:30 a.m. at Turner Field to be attended by Smoltz, general manager Frank Wren and manager Bobby Cox. A Braves official confirmed surgery for Smoltz will be announced at the media conference.

...

Smoltz had moved back to the bullpen from his preferred starting role as a concession to persistent pain in his throwing shoulder. He had hoped he could get through the season by pitching in one-inning stints and by altering his pitching delivery and throwing sidearm.

Luckily for the Braves, their young pitchers are proving better than their old pitchers. Hampton is gone, Smoltz is gone and Glavine is pitching poorly. I hope they don't trade prospects for Maddux at this point.

The Red Sox call up Chris Carter to replace David Ortiz on the roster.

Lyflines would love to see Barry Bonds take over DH duties for the Red Sox while Ortiz is on the disabled list. Boston certainly has the financial power to pull off the deal.

David Ortiz's wrist pop will sideline him for at least one month, and he may end up needing surgery after that. So do the Red Sox move Manny to designated hitter and improve their defense with Crisp in every day, or do they try to find another designated hitter? Maybe use Casey at DH and hope his OBA stays high?

Ryan Zimmerman has a tear in his left shoulder, but the Nationals still haven't placed him on the disabled list. They're not playing tonight, but Washington played a man short for a week while they waited to see what would happen. Zimmerman isn't hitting all that great, so this would have been a good time to try someone else.

The Red Sox say they're evaluating the situation with David Ortiz's wrist and we won't know anything until the end of the game.

Nick Blackburn is fine after taking a line drive off the face:

Nick Blackburn returned to the Metrodome after getting checked out and met with Bobby Abreu after the game. Abreu was relieved to see the Minnesota pitcher was OK after being hit with that line drive.

"I was scared," Abreu said. "You never want to see something like that."

Blackburn, remarkably, came away with a fat lip and bruised nose. He broke no bones and has all his teeth.

I saw this headline and thought, "Doesn't your season have to start first?"

Prior has shoulder tear, will have season-ending surgery again

Mark is having the surgery because he wants to make a comeback. I think it's time to take the money he's earned and start a find a new business.