azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 10, 2005 12:00 AM
A sore right elbow in spring training wound up costing Greg Aquino his job as the Diamondbacks' closer. On Saturday, it cost him 15 days on the disabled list.
Arizona made the move, and subsequently recalled reliever Oscar Villarreal from Triple-A Tucson, after it was discovered the right-handed Aquino has an irritated ulnar nerve in his elbow. In cases where the nerve is damaged or irritated to an extreme, nerve transposition surgery is often required and the player typically is out for the rest of the year.
Paul Lessard, the club's head athletic trainer, said it is too early to put a timetable on Aquino's return. The pitcher is being treated with anti-inflammatory medication to relax tissues and musculature in the area, and a magnetic resonance imaging exam likely will be scheduled in the next few days.
"Nerves are kind of tricky things," Lessard said. "You can put time frames on muscles and tendons and things like that, but nerves kind of go on their own course."
Aquino experienced tightness in his elbow while warming up in the bullpen late in Friday night's loss to the Dodgers and subsequent examinations confirmed the problem is tied to the nerve that runs underneath and through the flexor mass part of the joint.
Aquino, who recorded 16 saves for the Diamondbacks last season as a rookie, missed two weeks of spring training due to tightness in the flexor mass, an injury Lessard theorizes could have flared up because the nerve was irritated.
Villarreal underwent nerve transposition surgery in August and never really pitched with consistency in the spring, posting a 12.79 ERA in seven appearances. He pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief Thursday for the Sidewinders in their season opener at Salt Lake City.
Mr. 300
Left fielder Luis Gonzalez entered Saturday's game against the Dodgers six home runs shy of reaching the 300 milestone for his career.
Considering he played at the pitcher-friendly Astrodome in Houston for five-plus seasons at the start of his career, Gonzalez feels fortunate to be on the verge of the 300 plateau. However, he also needed 42 doubles to reach 500 and that's a number of even greater importance to him.
"That's going to mean more to me," he said. "That's the one I really want."
As for the homers, it took eight seasons for Gonzalez to collect his first 107. It's taken only six seasons, and the first week of 2005, for him to hit 187 more since joining the Diamondbacks.
"He's put up a lot of home runs in a hurry," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "We consider him one of the better players in the game and when you look at his year in 2001 and some of the other years he's had here, he's been phenomenal. It puts him in the elite. To get to 300, especially with a little bit of a late start, it's a pretty impressive feat."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0410dbacksnb0410.html
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 10, 2005 12:00 AM
A sore right elbow in spring training wound up costing Greg Aquino his job as the Diamondbacks' closer. On Saturday, it cost him 15 days on the disabled list.
Arizona made the move, and subsequently recalled reliever Oscar Villarreal from Triple-A Tucson, after it was discovered the right-handed Aquino has an irritated ulnar nerve in his elbow. In cases where the nerve is damaged or irritated to an extreme, nerve transposition surgery is often required and the player typically is out for the rest of the year.
Paul Lessard, the club's head athletic trainer, said it is too early to put a timetable on Aquino's return. The pitcher is being treated with anti-inflammatory medication to relax tissues and musculature in the area, and a magnetic resonance imaging exam likely will be scheduled in the next few days.
"Nerves are kind of tricky things," Lessard said. "You can put time frames on muscles and tendons and things like that, but nerves kind of go on their own course."
Aquino experienced tightness in his elbow while warming up in the bullpen late in Friday night's loss to the Dodgers and subsequent examinations confirmed the problem is tied to the nerve that runs underneath and through the flexor mass part of the joint.
Aquino, who recorded 16 saves for the Diamondbacks last season as a rookie, missed two weeks of spring training due to tightness in the flexor mass, an injury Lessard theorizes could have flared up because the nerve was irritated.
Villarreal underwent nerve transposition surgery in August and never really pitched with consistency in the spring, posting a 12.79 ERA in seven appearances. He pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief Thursday for the Sidewinders in their season opener at Salt Lake City.
Mr. 300
Left fielder Luis Gonzalez entered Saturday's game against the Dodgers six home runs shy of reaching the 300 milestone for his career.
Considering he played at the pitcher-friendly Astrodome in Houston for five-plus seasons at the start of his career, Gonzalez feels fortunate to be on the verge of the 300 plateau. However, he also needed 42 doubles to reach 500 and that's a number of even greater importance to him.
"That's going to mean more to me," he said. "That's the one I really want."
As for the homers, it took eight seasons for Gonzalez to collect his first 107. It's taken only six seasons, and the first week of 2005, for him to hit 187 more since joining the Diamondbacks.
"He's put up a lot of home runs in a hurry," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "We consider him one of the better players in the game and when you look at his year in 2001 and some of the other years he's had here, he's been phenomenal. It puts him in the elite. To get to 300, especially with a little bit of a late start, it's a pretty impressive feat."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0410dbacksnb0410.html
