The San Francisco Giants have been on cruise control throughout
spring training, but they hit a speed bump Saturday, one that might
turn into a significant problem. An MRI revealed that All-Star
closer Brian Wilson has a strained left oblique, suffered during a
scoreless inning of relief Thursday. Wilson will be shut down until
Monday, when he will be re-evaluated.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.
The San Francisco Giants have been on cruise control throughout spring training, but they hit a speed bump Saturday, one that might turn into a significant problem.
An MRI revealed that All-Star closer Brian Wilson has a strained left oblique, suffered during a scoreless inning of relief Thursday. Wilson will be shut down until Monday, when he will be re-evaluated.
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Wilson said his teammates “know I’ll be ready” for Opening Day, but with the season opener less than two weeks away, manager Bruce Bochy conceded that “this is a setback.”
“His last outing, he felt it a little bit,” Bochy said. “It’s mild. It’s not torn or anything. We’ll see where he’s at Monday, and then we’ll have a better idea of where we are at.”
The Giants have experience with the injury; left-hander Jeremy Affeldt missed 23 games last summer with a left oblique strain. San Francisco’s season opener in Los Angeles is March 31.
“Some of them take longer than others,” Bochy said. “Monday we’ll have a better idea, and I can tell you exactly how concerned I am about it then.
“I think there has to be some concern here.”
Wilson has dealt with this before, having landed on the disabled list after his 2006 debut with a left oblique strain.
As the legend goes, Wilson hurt himself just two batters into his big league career but kept pitching and chugged a Red Bull in the trainer’s room before coming back out and pitching a second scoreless inning.
Now one of the top closers in the game, Wilson is being a lot more cautious than he was as a rookie.
“I could pitch with it, clearly,” Wilson said. “I hurt it in the first inning (in 2006) and pitched the second inning. There’s no need to this time; it’s spring training.
“You can’t get down, you can’t get mad. You just treat it, and it’ll be over with.”
Wilson previously had missed time this spring with lower-back tightness, an injury unrelated to his current one. Wilson said he felt sore after Thursday’s outing but is improving.
“I feel a lot better than I did Thursday, and I’ll feel a lot better tomorrow and Monday, and we’ll take it from there,” Wilson said. “I wouldn’t imagine the team is worried about me. They know the situation.”
If Wilson misses significant time, Bochy listed Affeldt and Sergio Romo as prime candidates to close. In a 3-1 victory Saturday over Kansas City, Santiago Casilla followed Affeldt and Romo with a perfect ninth inning that included two strikeouts.
But Wilson doesn’t expect the injury to be bad enough to necessitate a replacement. And he’s keeping a sense of humor about his latest setback.
“On a serious note, they asked me what kind of music you want to listen to in the MRI (machine),” Wilson said, “And I said ‘I don’t care, whatever is playing.’
“I kid you not, ‘Smoke on the Water’ was playing, so everything is going to be good.”
—Barry Zito gave up just two hits and one earned run over six innings, lowering his Cactus League ERA to 2.30. Zito walked four Royals and struck out two.
—Aubrey Huff will start in left field Sunday, with Brandon Belt at first base.
—Mark DeRosa will miss his third straight day because of a slight case of tendinitis in his left wrist. Bochy said the Giants are just being abundantly cautious because DeRosa has had multiple surgeries on the wrist.
—Darren Ford stole his Cactus League-leading ninth base.
— Alex Pavlovic, San Jose Mercury News
