Wainwright

[PavanoAllstars]

Hopefully it's nothing serious (like the Cardinals my rotation can't afford to lose him), but Wainwright left last night's game with what they're calling a sprained middle finger... what I found odd is that he hurt it in the bull pen but managed it through 5 innings, only for it to force him out in the sixth, I love this kid this year, but maybe he should have been more careful! Here's the best article I could find, I think it has an optomistic undertone in the end:

HOUSTON — Adam Wainwright kept bending and cracking the knuckle on his right middle finger, trying to make the pain go away. By the sixth inning, he could hardly grip the ball.

GAME REPORT:Cardinals 8, Astros 4

For the five innings he pitched, Wainwright still shut down the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals' offense did the rest in an 8-4 win Saturday night over the Astros.

Ryan Ludwick hit a three-run homer, Troy Glaus added a solo shot and Skip Schumaker had a single, double and two-run triple for the Cardinals, who beat the Astros for the ninth time in the last 13 meetings.

Wainwright (6-3) left in the sixth with a sprained finger and said he initially hurt it in pre-game warmups. He said popping the knuckle back into place during the game seemed to be the perfect remedy for a while.

"It sort of was lingering throughout the entire game," Wainwright said. "I felt like it needed to pop or get cracked or something. So I kept cracking it and it felt fine."

Wainwright had a 2-2 count on leadoff hitter Darin Erstad when he signaled to the dugout that he had hurt his finger. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and head athletic trainer Barry Weinberg came to the mound and La Russa brought in Kyle McClellan to relieve.

"All of a sudden, I threw a curve ball to Erstad and it made a noise," Wainwright said. "I couldn't squeeze the ball after that."

Wainwright threw 88 pitches, giving up two runs and seven hits. He had lasted at least 5 2-3 innings in his previous 13 starts. His finger wasn't swollen after the game and Wainwright was frustrated that he couldn't give the Cardinals' relief pitchers more of a break.

"That was the bad thing about it," he said. "Today was the day I definitely could've saved our bullpen a little bit. We were in need of that. Our whole 'pen has been taxed lately."

The Cardinals' pitching staff has been dealing with injuries all season.

Todd Wellemeyer flew back to St. Louis after Thursday's start in Washington with inflammation in his right elbow and several other pitchers are rehabbing, including Chris Carpenter (elbow) and Jason Isringhausen (hand).

Mark Mulder, who's been out with a left shoulder injury, threw a bullpen session before Saturday's game. La Russa gave no timetable on his return.

Weinberg told Wainwright after the game that he was likely to miss 1-2 days of throwing. La Russa said the Cardinals would be cautious.

"It's enough to concern you," La Russa said. "It's the fingertip on his pitching hand, so it's something to be concerned about."

[etraum]

Thank-you for the update. I think I am going to bench Wainwright and I would recommend other 'Wainwright' owners to do the same. I cannot go by a manager's tone of voice (LaRussa's 'opportunistic' tone) and I have to go with what I know. The question is NOT will he start. Its more will he be effective. A sprained DIP joint of his middle finger on his pitching arm can greatly affect his movement w/ his curve and velocity on his fastball. Whether he pitches in Cincy or vs the hot Philly line-up its not a great-matchup for any pitcher, injured or not. If you have other options (example McGowan, Cueto) start them instead.

This is my opinion of course.

[PavanoAllstars]

couldn't agree more... especially in a roto league... the doctors are looking at him today so we'll know the severity of the injury, in some sick way i hope he skips a start becuase i'm worried about his innings pitched jump from two years back...


in any event, we'll know more about the severity of the injury today

[PavanoAllstars]

anyone heard anything yet? He was supposed to visit the doctor today...

[clevername]

nothing firm, there seems to be a media blackout on it which can't be encouraging.

There's a rumor they contacted the Tigers about Zumaya's tendon injury...that one required surgery and he's been out 4 months. I'm hoping that rumor is false, but it certainly sounds like a ruptured tendon to me.

[PavanoAllstars]

I had a bad feeling about this... if it's as bad as they say, it pisses me off wainwright didn't take himself out of the game earlier... he felt this pain long before the "pop"... oh well, I can't speculate, but losing Ortiz, Holliday, Furcal and Zimmerman has already left a bitter taste in my tounge... Wainwright was nothing but wonderful for my team, and I hope if the injury's bad his career isn't in jeopardy

[etraum]

Please keep this info coming. The kid has pitched great and I would hate to see something like this damper his young career. I hope our negative tone is premature and he returns "perfect". I have not seen any reports yet, but I found one article that does not sound good.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports ... enDocument

[jealousblues]

bear this in mind: the cards always seem to want to tell everyone right away the player is fine, and then find out later its worse than they let on.
Carpenter, Rolen, Mulder.
As a fan and a Waino owner im worried.

[mtxdevil]

Per Rotoworld

Wainwright
The Cardinals will place Adam Wainwright on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right middle finger.
Joel Pineiro apparently will come off the DL without making a rehab start and replace Wainwright later this week. The Cardinals sure haven't been afraid to give games away with their starting pitching decisions lately. Jun. 9 - 8:48 pm et

[PavanoAllstars]

at least the original sprain diagnosis has held up... i'd like to know if they gave him an mri etc to determine whether or not a tendon ruptured like with Zumaya... time will tell I guess, but the cardinals' medical staff is not to be trusted with their initial diagnoses... see Carpenter, Chris...