marquis francis
3-3, 5.50 1-2, 3.60
see below for the update on ponson. . . .
will carroll, from today's "under the knife" column at baseball prospectus:
The worst-case scenario for the Cardinals was to have an injury to one of their "MV3"--Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols, and Jim Edmonds. No, I take that back: the worst-case scenario is having an injury to all three. That's what's happening right now, and that the team is still winning is a testament to Tony La Russa's skill. Rolen's illness and Pujols' back problem have both been well documented and shouldn't be long term problems. Edmonds' shoulder problems are also well known, but are more serious. Edmonds has had treatment, including cortisone injections, over the past two seasons, but now even those aren't enough. At some point, Edmonds will need to shut it down for a while. It's not at a Larry Walker or Jeff Bagwell state yet, though it will impact almost every part of Edmonds' game the rest of the season.
let's not gloss over the encouraging part of that blurb -- carroll does
not expect pujols' back to give him trouble all year. the discouraging part, on the other hand . . . . the more i hear about jimmy's shoulder, and the more i watch him play, the more credence i lend to those
rumors we heard during the off-season that the cards were shopping edmonds around.
to be fair, james has been getting better swings lately. since his cortison injection in mid-april, edmonds has hit .291 / .385 / .509, with 3 hr and 14 rbi in 55 at-bats. over that same period of time, scott rolen has not driven in a single run . . . . can that be right? darn tootin'; he drove in 13 runs in the cards' first 12 games, but nary a one since april 16 -- even though he's hitting .387 in 31 at-bats since then. johnny rodriguez is hitting .455 over that time period (12 for 33) but has knocked in only two runs; gary bennett, meanwhile, has gone just 3 for 18 in the same span but has 4 rbis . . . . .
i've heard nothing at all today about sid ponson's elbow. maybe some news on the broadcast tonite . . . .
Update [2006-5-8 19:33:24 by lboros]: here's the word on ponson, from the official site:
Right-hander Sidney Ponson has been diagnosed with a muscle strain in his right elbow and will miss his next start. Ponson was examined by Dr. George Paletta on Monday afternoon.
"He had an MRI and some X-rays, and it shows an acute flexor muscle strain in his right elbow," head athletic trainer Barry Weinberg said on Monday afternoon. "George [Paletta] will evaluate him again tonight and we'll put together one, a treatment program and two, a throwing plan. It is not likely that he will make his next start."
also from that article: bigbie activated, gall optioned back to memphis.
