Here you go...this is what I meant.
Martinez's soreness could be real body blow to team
Friday, July 20, 2007
BY DON BURKE
Star-Ledger Staff
LOS ANGELES -- Pedro Martinez was supposed to shut down his rehab program for a week to 10 days, a mental-health respite coinciding with baseball's All-Star break.
But the three-time Cy Young Award winner is still on a hiatus, leading to questions about when and if he'll ever be ready to rejoin the Mets following last October's rotator cuff surgery.
"It's his body. He's going to give us feedback when he's ready," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said before last night's game against the Dodgers, while assuring that Martinez would return this season. "You've got to remember the next phase of this, once the clock starts you have 30 days (to complete his minor-league rehab starts).
"(The break is) with the recommendation of (team medical director) Dr. (David) Altchek, who believes this is the best way to go, (to) physically and mentally shut it down. Once (Martinez) starts it up again, it's game time."
Minaya, who stressed that Martinez is healthy, said the 35-year-old right-hander has been throwing lightly during his sabbatical. Once he returns to Port St. Lucie, Fla., -- and the Mets are not quite sure when that will be -- Martinez is expected to throw a simulated game.
All along, the Mets have targeted Martinez's return for "some time" in August, and that timetable doesn't seem to have changed.
"When you're dealing with an injury, there is no specific time," Minaya said. "The body will tell him when it's right or when it's wrong. ... A lot of things go into it. ... What we don't want to do is we don't want to put a date (on him and) say you have to go (on) that date and all the work he has been done goes back." |