posted on Saturday, March 08, 2008 3:49 AM
by
Jim
Can you complete this puzzle?
Answers below:
1. Scott Linebrink: Migraine headache. If nothing else, it's good fodder for
an Ozzie Guillen quote:
''I believe [Linebrink] because he's a real religious guy,'' Guillen
said. ''Someone else tells me they have a migraine, I know they are
hung over.''
2. Mike MacDougal: Confidence. You know your psyche isn't in good shape when
smiling is cause for a headline.
"That's the first time I've seen this kid smile coming off the mound in
a few years," said Guillen of MacDougal. "Every time he comes off the
mound, he has a long face and worries."
3. Carlos Quentin: Left shoulder. The last we heard from him:
"The strength is all there. It's just standard soreness that comes with this sort of surgery.''
4. Matt Thornton: Left elbow. He had
a bit of soreness before spring training, and has only thrown one inning so far. It was a scoreless inning, at least, and he's ready for more:
"[Trainer] Herm Schneider got me on a throwing program that I just
finished up and now I'm letting the reins loose. I'm ready to go."
5. Danny Richar: Back. Evidently he tweaked his back during winter ball, which might explain his .500 OPS there. He reaggravated it, and
might be falling off the second-base radar:
''He's got this back problem, and this was a guy that was already
behind,'' Guillen said. ''We'll see. Hopefully he can bounce back and
not fall too far behind.''
6. Jerry Owens: Right groin. No news on this front, but ex-Sox reporter Doug Padilla has some insight on
Owens' different training methods:
"Actually my strides were too long. I was
thinking about striding out, running, getting as long as I can. But it
puts a lot of strain on your hamstrings when you do that. They told me
to shorten up a little bit. It will prevent hamstring injuries and at
the same time it will get my turnover quicker so I'm faster in my reps."
"...and I'll end up straining my groin instead!"
7. Jack Egbert: Right elbow. Scott Merkin says
Egbert went "full-bore" in a sideline session:
"It felt really good," he said Friday. "I'm ready to get back in the game."
8. Toby Hall: Right shoulder. Not
nearly as good of news on this front:
"I'm just doing a lot of throwing right now, getting to game speed arm-wise."
9. Gavin Floyd: Flu. Looks like
it'll only cost him one start:
Gavin Floyd was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday against Texas because of flu-like symptoms.
Oddly enough, I thought "flu-like symptoms," not "migraine," was sports talk for a hangover. At any rate, I hope somebody solves the puzzle before Jermaine Dye blows out his left quad.