|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Not again Saunders' career likely over after breaking arm again
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Tony Saunders thought his comeback would produce a happier ending, not a sound like the snap of a rubber band that might have ended any chance of pitching again. The left-hander's bid to resume his career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays stopped abruptly Thursday night when he broke his pitching arm for the second time in 15 months. Saunders, pitching in a minor league game for Class A St. Petersburg, crumpled to the ground in agony on the 33rd pitch of an outing scheduled to last four innings or no more than 60 pitches. "You could kind of hear it before you knew what was happening," the batter, Clearwater's Skip Kiil, told the St. Petersburg Times. "It sounded like a rubber band snapping. I kind of flinched at first and then I realized what had happened. Your heart has to go out to the guy." He underwent surgery to reset the bone at Bayfront Medical Center, and was released Friday afternoon. The team said he would hold a news conference Saturday, then return to his home in Baltimore. Dr. Koco Eaton, the Devil Rays' orthopedic physician, said the fracture occurred in the same general area of the humerus -- the bone running from the shoulder to the elbow -- that Saunders originally injured on May 26, 1999, against the Texas Rangers. "As far as returning to baseball and becoming a major-league pitcher again, the prognosis is poor," Eaton said. "As far as gaining full use of his arm, being a good father and husband, the prognosis is great." Saunders, the first player selected in the 1998 expansion draft, was making the fifth rehabilitation start of what had been a remarkable recovery. He was hoping to return to the majors in September and might have been one or two starts away, although the Devil Rays had stressed all summer that they would not rush him. Three other major league pitchers -- San Francisco's Dave Dravecky, Cincinnati's Tom Browning and Cleveland's John Smiley -- have broken their throwing arms in action in the past 11 years. None of them recovered to pitch effectively. Saunders' hopes were bolstered by an accelerated recovery that enabled him to meet a goal of being able to report with other players for the first day of spring training. Doctors originally thought he might not be able to pick up a ball for a full calendar year, but Saunders had been throwing for a month by the time camp opened in February. He said at the time that while he had no fear of re-injuring himself, he also realized there might be some setbacks. "I've got to be realistic. I know there's going to be some, probably once I start throwing more," he said. "But the thing they keep stressing to me is it's not going to be anything with the bone. It's going to be muscle and fatigue, just building my strength back up." Saunders began his rehabilitation assignment pitching two games for Charleston in the South Atlantic League, going 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five innings. Thursday night was his third start for St. Petersburg of the Florida State League. The first break occurred barely a month after Saunders came within four outs of pitching a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles. He was 3-3 with a 6.43 ERA last season, and 9-18 with a 4.53 ERA in two seasons with Tampa Bay. He went 4-6 with a 4.61 ERA as a rookie in 1997, helping the Florida Marlins earn a playoff berth. He started two postseason games, including Game 4 of the World Series (a 10-3 loss to Cleveland).
| ||||||||||||||||
