Post by tbone421998 on Jun 20, 2007 10:07:19 GMT -5
houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070619&content_id=2036528&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=houBrad Lidge is going to miss significant time in the near future after suffering a strained oblique muscle in his left side. He was placed on the disabled list following Tuesday's game, and the Astros filled the closer's roster spot by purchasing the contract of lefty Stephen Randolph from Triple-A Round Rock.Dan Wheeler will resume the closer's role he lost to Lidge on June 8, when the team was in Chicago to play the White Sox and Cubs.
Lidge suffered the injury during his last outing last Friday in a relief appearance against the Seattle Mariners. He could be activated from the DL on June 30, but it's more likely that he'll be out for longer than the 15 required days.
"He needs to shut it down," manager Phil Garner said. "It'll be awhile where he won't do any throwing activity. If he keeps trying to go, it'll get worse and worse. I've never seen it get better when a guy keeps trying to play with it."
Lidge headed to the outfield for batting practice Tuesday hoping he would be able to play catch without pain, but that experiment failed.
"I was hoping when I went out and threw that I wouldn't be feeling it and it wouldn't be bothering me, or it would be mild enough to where I could throw through it," he said. "That just wasn't the case. I just want to try to get it better as fast as possible before it keeps me out for a real long period of time."
The only true remedy for an oblique strain is rest, which is why it often takes longer to recover from this injury.
"The unfortuanate part is I can't do a whole lot," Lidge said. "I'll lose a little arm strength, so I'll have to be real patient. I'm not someone who likes sitting around all day and that's kind of what I'm going to have to do here. Hopefully, we can get it better as fast as possible and I won't have to miss any more than 15 days."
