Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Greinke Returns Tonight

Carlos Quentin has been playing for weeks now, but Zack Greinke will finally return to the Dodgers tonight, against Washington:

Zack Greinke insists he's not rushing his return because his highly touted team is in last place.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Tuesday that Greinke will come off the disabled list and face the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night, 4½ weeks after fracturing his left collarbone in a fight with San Diego Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin and more than three weeks ahead of the original timetable.

"I would think if everyone in baseball had the same feeling I do, everyone would be playing," Greinke said. "Maybe not if you're a shortstop or a catcher, but every pitcher, I would think, would be playing. So, it's nothing superhero-ish or anything. If you felt what I feel, then you'd be doing the same thing."

The Dodgers considered giving Greinke one more rehab start at Class-A, but after a debate between trainers, doctors, general manager Ned Colletti, Greinke and manager Don Mattingly, they elected to start Greinke rather than rookie Matt Magill against Washington. [...]

The Dodgers have asked Greinke not to dive for any batted balls and to use caution while covering first base. Greinke took batting practice for the first time Tuesday, but he likely will be under instructions to take pitches or bunt, but not to swing.

"I might not be able to swing as hard as Carlos Gomez swings," Greinke said. "I could probably try to hit a home run. It's probably not worth doing, but I could do it."

In order to reinforce the Dodgers' wish for Greinke to not go for low grounders, the Dodgers have asked Eric Karros for a spot consulting gig.

photo: Getty Images

8 comments:

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

Greinke sounds ready to go.

He can't field grounders,
can't hit the long ball,
can't cover 1B,
can't cover homeplate on wild pitches with runners on third,
can't cut off Uribe in the buffet line.

rbnlaw said...

Kid, I like your moxie.

Hideo Nomo said...

Other things Greinke can't do:

-The YMCA
-One-handed pushups
-The "This is crazy" arm motion from National Lampoon's Vacation

Jason said...

Yet more things Greinke can't do:

* Pull of a hat size larger than 6
* Execute an effective soccer header
* Perform as a Barry Bonds impersonator

Dusty Baker said...

However, Greinke could still play Jack Jeebs from Men in Black.

Steve Sax said...

@Jason: +1 on the Barry Bonds impersonator comment. Love it

Alex said...

Greinke could also play this dude

BJ Killeen said...

I heard a locker room story about Barry Bonds from someone who's seen it personally. Larger than life apparently is true in this case.