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Garza Injury Adds To An Unnerving Trend

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 9, 2008

Updated: 04/09/2008 12:22 am

ST. PETERSBURG - After his 70th pitch Tuesday night - in, ahem, the third inning - was out of the strike zone and forced in a run, Matt Garza motioned toward the Rays bench. Ouch. Come quickly.

They did.

And moments later, another important member of the Rays walked toward the Tropicana Field dugout and into the trainer's room, this time to deal with what was described as an irritated radial nerve that runs from his shoulder and down his valuable right arm. And before long we were hearing those magic words: 15-day disabled list.

Two of their top three starting pitchers are now on the disabled list and we're barely a week into the season. And no one can say for certain just how long Garza will be down.

"I don't have enough information yet," Manager Joe Maddon said of this latest injury. "It just came up during the game."

The Rays will bring up Jae Kuk Ryu to help out in the bullpen for a few days, then promote a starter - probably Jeff Niemann. It's not too soon to send up a flair for any hospital ships nearby. If this trend continues, they might consider striking up the violins as we all join in the chorus of "Nearer My Disabled List To Thee."

Since Opening Day in Baltimore, the Rays have lost catcher Dioner Navarro to the DL, while designated hitter Cliff Floyd has been hobbling on a sore knee. There's Scott Kazmir and his tender left elbow that feels just fine but has kept him out for two months anyway, and Rocco Baldelli - well, we know that story and it's just sad.

Throw in the broken thumb by Ben Zobrist, which nipped at the Rays' depth, and it's starting to get a little unnerving, so to speak. It's definitely not the kind of development you want the first time the Rays play at home this season, which is what they did Tuesday.

Oh, by the way, they lost 6-5 to Seattle and Maddon was ejected for arguing too enthusiastically when B.J. Upton was ruled out trying to stretch a double into a triple.

It was that kind of night.

Calling On Alstott

Nothing says Opening Night like Mike Alstott in the house.

Yes, indeed, the Rays need all the good vibes they can get, so they invited the most popular athlete to ever wear a Tampa Bay uniform to throw out the first ball. His pitch was juuuuuust a bit outside - looked like he tried the corner and missed - but no one seemed to mind.

Gov. Charlie Crist followed Stottie to the mound (he was booed) and, get this, one-upped the big fella by throwing from the rubber; Alstott was on the front of the hill for his toss.

There was, ho-hum, another sellout.

That's nine in 11 years.

So it was all in place for the start of something special. That didn't escape the notice of Seattle manager John McLaren, who served here for three years as Lou Piniella's bench coach and was runner-up to Maddon for the manager's job after Sweet Lou couldn't take it anymore.

"Besides when we play them, I pull for them a lot," McLaren said. "I think they're going in the right direction. The core of young players is starting to grow up. Everybody talks about the young position players in Tampa Bay, but what impresses me are the young pitchers they have. It has taken some time but I think you can see their planning starting to pay off for them."

But the breaks of the game are messing with those plans. That's not the way to begin the scaling the face of that 70-win mountain.

Hold The Fort

A week ago the Rays were justifiably excited about the possibilities after a strong spring. That good feeling is starting to give way to legitimate concerns though. No team can sustain this many injuries to front-line players, particularly to starting pitchers. There's no choice but to hang in and try to weather the storm.

Realistically, it could be the first of May at least before Kazmir is ready. Garza has had this kind of nerve trouble before and it usually goes away, but he'll miss at least four or five starts - maybe more. The ripple effect goes farther than that, though, because Maddon will take it easy with Kazmir and Garza once they return.

That will create more strain on the bullpen, and you know the drill from there.

It's not what everyone imagined it would be like this early into the most anticipated season in club history, but here we are. You might wonder what could possibly happen next, but then you consider the history of this club and you're almost afraid to ask.

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