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Y! MyWeb'Minor strain' keeps Burton sidelined
Sunday, July 13, 2008
MILWAUKEE — Jared Burton is not missing, not wandering the shores of Lake Michigan, not in a coma nor living under a Milwaukee underpass.
He's hurt. Yes, he is hurt — which is why he didn't pitch in the Brewers series, even though his spot out of the bullpen surfaced.
Reds manager Dusty Baker tried to keep it under his hat, make Milwaukee manager Ned Yost believe Burton was available. He sat in the bullpen, wearing his No. 51, but he never got out of his chair.
It happened in the eighth inning July 8 in Great American Ball Park against Washington. An argument erupted over whether Paul LoDuca should or should not be on first base.
"Instead of throwing to stay loose, Burton stood and watched," said Baker.
Said Burton, "They just gave me a little bit of extra rest and not too much should be read into it. It'll be good for me because I had a lot of innings this first half (43 appearances, 481/3 innings)."
But there is pain in the lat muscle under his arm.
"There that break in the action and I didn't throw any (on the LoDuca play)," Burton said. "Then I tried to gear it up and felt a minor strain and pitched again and it kind of lingered, so we thought the best thing to do rather than try to get through the last two months of the year by doing nothing was to back off for a few days.
"Every pitch in Chicago was an effort to get it in there and it's not a good feeling knowing there are two months left in the season," he said.
Burton, 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA, will spend the All-Star break in Cincinnati taking treatment, "And the boys in the training room know what they're doing and already have me feeling better and hopefully after the break I'll be ready to roll."
After three days of not pitching in Milwaukee and three days off for the All-Star break, Burton will throw Thursday, "To see if he is OK to pitch or if we have to disable him and go get somebody from Louisville," said Baker.
Two Volquez views
Edinson Volquez, who could have become the first Reds pitcher to start an All-Star game since Jack Armstrong in 1990, won't start because he threw 115 pitches Saturday. He held the Brewers to one earned run and six hits over seven innings, striking out 10.
Impressive? Not that much to Brewers third baseman Russell Branyan, formerly with the Reds. Branyan went 0 for 4 and struck out twice, then said of Volquez, "He wasn't really, 'Wow.' A lot of people are comparing him to Pedro Martinez but he was no Pedro Martinez by any means."
Wonder what he would have said if Volquez struck him out four times?
On the other hand, Volquez struck out J.J. Hardy three straight times and Hardy said, "I think he walked Craig Counsell ahead of me just so he could strike me out. Hey, he has my Cy Young vote."
Harang improving
Team medical director Dr. Tim Kremchek was, "Pleased with the progress," of pitcher Aaron Harang during an examination of his sore forearm Sunday. Another examination will be done Thursday to determine when Harang can resume throwing.
Promise fulfilled
Milwaukee pitcher CC Sabathia asked Adam Dunn for some of his bats last week. Dunn said, "Fat chance. No way. And before he faces us (Sunday) I'm going over there to reclaim the one bat I gave him. If he doesn't give it to me, I'm going to tell the umpire it's corked if he tries to use it.
"He told me if I didn't give him some bats, he was going to hit me with a pitch," Dunn said with a laugh. "If he does I'll be out there on him with plenty of help from my friends."
On his first pitch to Dunn Sunday, Sabathia hit him on the left arm. Dunn quietly trotted to first base — knowing it was not intentional. They are friends.
Quote of the day
Dusty Baker's All-Star break plans: "I'll walleye fish on Monday, smallmouth on Tuesday in Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin, then drive to Green Bay on Wednesday and check out Lambeau Field. Vince Lombardi is one of my favorite coaches and favorite people. I might go there and get some of that old Packer spirit of winning — put in a glass or a cup and bring it back here. I'm psyched."
