Rocco: 'I can't tell anymore'

Manager's optimistic, CF less so about extent of hamstring injury.

By Marc Topkin
Published March 22, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Rocco Baldelli has felt this way before. And because of that, he knows not to feel too optimistic about when he will be healthy enough to return to the Devil Rays lineup.

Manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday that he was confident Baldelli would miss only a few days in recovering from the right hamstring tightness that sidelined him Tuesday and he "is going to be" in the April 2 opening day lineup.

But Baldelli is taking a more cautious approach, having been sidelined into June when a similar problem in his left leg popped up around the same time last spring, and said he couldn't gauge the severity of the latest injury.

"I can't tell anymore. I don't know," he said. "I've strained it and it's felt better in a day or two and other times, like last year in spring training, I thought it was going to be fine and it wasn't. I wish I knew."

Does he think he is more likely to be out the three days Maddon suggested or three months?

"I hope it's not the latter, but I can't say," Baldelli said. "I honestly can't. If I told you guys I'd be lying."

Maddon termed the problem "mild" and was an "entirely different thing" from what Baldelli had last spring. He said the Rays were just being cautious in giving Baldelli a few days off.

"With him, again, I just want to make sure that he's fine," Maddon said. "I don't think it's anything serious at all."

He is certainly hoping it isn't, having just shifted Baldelli into the key No. 3 spot in a reconfigured batting order. Wednesday, he moved Ty Wigginton into the third spot and put rookie Elijah Dukes in centerfield while saying the other option was B.J. Upton. But Maddon said he wasn't making long-term contingency plans because based on what the medical staff told him, he expected Baldelli back soon.

"We're going to proceed as though he is going to be there because he is going to be there," Maddon said. "So as we create this team we'll keep Rocco penciled into that spot because I believe he is going to be fine."

Even if Baldelli does recover quickly, the Rays are likely to handle him with care and rest him often. "I would rather have Rocco for 135 or 140 games than none," Maddon said.

Baldelli left Tuesday's game shortly after a fourth-inning at-bat in which he felt tightness in the right hamstring. He said a key would be how he felt when he woke up Wednesday, and it wasn't necessarily an encouraging feeling.

"It's kind of in the middle of the road," he said. "It doesn't feel terribly worse than it did Tuesday but it doesn't feel remarkably, miraculously better, so it's pretty much even ground."

The hamstring muscle is important for a baseball player given the number of explosive movements, especially for one such as Baldelli, who depends on his speed offensively and while roaming centerfield. Catcher Dioner Navarro suffered a mild strain to his left hamstring March 8 and has yet to return.

Baldelli was coming back last spring after missing the 2005 season after left knee and right elbow surgery when he was unexpectedly scratched from a March 23 game with a left hamstring problem that both he and Maddon said was not serious. But the injury lingered, requiring rest, various treatments and minor-league rehab time, and he didn't play for the Rays until June 7.

Baldelli, 25, said he hadn't experienced any hamstring problems earlier this spring but did say his legs "do feel tighter the older I get." After jogging as part of a light workout on Wednesday afternoon, he said he would be evaluated on a day-to-day basis and admitted that he had no idea how long he would be out.

"My legs have been feeling so many different things over the last two years, different sensations, I can't tell the difference at this point as to whether it's going to be exactly like last year or not," Baldelli said.

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8801. View his blog at blogs.tampabay.com/rays/.

Fast Facts:

The hamstring

- The hamstring muscles are three large muscles that span the back of the thigh.

- Injuries usually occur with sudden lunging, running or jumping, making athletes especially susceptible.

- Treatment usually involves rest, then stretching and range of motion exercise.

Source: WebMD.com

[Last modified March 21, 2007, 23:26:11]