PHOENIX (AP) -When Chad Billingsley’s feet went flying out from under him on the icy porch at his house in Pennsylvania three months ago, he got a lucky break.
“It was just a spiral fracture,” he said.
“Just” is a relative term in this case. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ young right-hander was left with a plate and screws in his left ankle and a 6-inch scar as souvenirs of his spill.
“After I saw the X-rays, talked to my doctor and surgeon, the good news was that there were no ligaments torn and that the muscles and everything were fine,” Billingsley said. “I was kind of bummed that I broke my ankle, but at least there was no severe damage.
“That was a huge relief.”
For the Dodgers as well, since Billingsley appears to be emerging as the ace.
Rapidly bouncing back from the injury, he already is throwing off the mound this spring and expects to be ready to go when the regular season begins.
his 32 starts. His ERA of 3.14 ranked seventh in the NL, and his 201 strikeouts were fifth in the league.
All that soured a bit when he struggled in the NLCS, giving up 11 runs in five innings while losing the second and fifth games to Philadelphia.
“That was last year. I learned and I’m moving on,” Billingsley said as he stood in front of his locker, getting ready to head out to the sparkling green practice fields at the Dodgers’ new spring home.
Then there was the Nov. 21 home accident. After he fell on the patch of ice, he got to his feet, walked back into the house, then decided he should go have the injury checked. He had surgery the following morning.
Pointing to the scar up his ankle, Billingsley said, “I had surgery because it was a quicker recovery time, six to eight weeks. If I had gone to a cast, it would have been eight to 12 weeks.”
The injury set back his offseason preparations for spring training by only about a week.
“It was a fairly quick process and everything turned out great, no setbacks or anything like that,” he said. “I was sitting down in a chair and throwing a football and throwing tennis balls, just getting the arm movement and doing range-of-motion. So I was still staying active.
rmal,” he added. “I’ve run and done sprints on it, Pretty much a normal workout.”
Billingsley, taken by Los Angeles as the 24th player to go in the 2003 first-year player draft, has a 35-19 record with a 3.33 ERA in his three major league seasons.
Manager Joe Torre noted that the Dodgers obviously relied heavily on Billingsley down the stretch, and in the playoffs.
“This kid has such a good head on his shoulders and he’s very conscientious. For sure he’s one of those guys that whatever game he pitches, whether it’s the opening day, second day, third day, there’s still a great deal of responsibility,” Torre said.
Still, he doesn’t want Billingsley to put too much pressure on himself.
“I think the one thing that’s important with these young guys is to have them go out and do what they can. I know it sounds simplistic,” Torre said. “I don’t want him to put any more weight on himself than he normally does. I think there’s a point where you try to overdo, and you don’t need to do that.
“And he’s that kind of guy. He never backs off or pats himself on the back. From my limited experience with him last year, he’s driven.”
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