Felix Hurts Elbow, A City Holds Its Breath
April 19, 2007 by Geoff Young
Filed under Injuries, Personalities
Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez left in the first inning of Wednesday night’s contest against the Twins due to “tightness in his right pitching elbow.” Uh-oh.
Mariners manager Mike Hargrove offers some comforting words:
Gut feeling, I think Felix will be OK. I have nothing to base that on.
Did I say “comforting”? Sorry, my bad.
Tough break for a franchise that really doesn’t have much going for it. Here’s hoping Hernandez is okay and will be able to resume dominating American League hitters again real soon.
Hopefully, Felix doesn’t have the same kind of arm injury that sidelined A.J. Burnett last year for two months. Maybe the Mariners shouldn’t have rushed Felix to the big leagues?
The good news is, Hernandez doesn’t have the injury history that Burnett had. The question of rushing Hernandez is a tricky one. The M’s don’t have a lot going for them and it’s probably in their best interest to find out what they have in him sooner rather than later. That said, there’s been so much hype with him that it’s difficult to keep expectations in check. I think if the coaches do their jobs in terms of monitoring workload, etc., there’s no reason that he shouldn’t be up here now. He clearly had nothing left to prove in the minors.