ATLANTA (AP) -John Smoltz is keeping his right arm numb and his hopes for a comeback warm.
Smoltz, who had season-ending shoulder surgery on June 10, spoke Tuesday while wearing a compression sleeve that keeps his arm a frigid 32 degrees. He’s happy with the high-tech device which he said allowed him to sleep for five hours – his longest yet – on Monday night while cutting back on pain medication.
Smoltz said he’s not yet able to watch games from the dugout because he’s worried about having to make a sudden move and hit the arm. He hopes to be out of the sling, and back in the dugout, by the All-Star game.
Smoltz hopes to know more about his hopes for a comeback during the next few months. His doctors have said he can begin throwing within four months.
“For me, all I’ve ever wanted is the chance,” Smoltz said. “As long as the desire is there, I’m going to pursue it.”
Smoltz was 3-2 with a 2.57 ERA in six games despite pitching through pain.
Smoltz, 41, is the only pitcher in baseball history with 200 wins and 150 saves. He holds major league records with 15 victories and 194 strikeouts in the postseason and won the 1996 Cy Young Award.
“There’s nothing left to prove,” he said. “If I do it or I don’t, it’s irrelevant.
“You know what? I might get to the point where I feel great and just decide, I’m not going to do it. And I’ll feel just as good about that.”
But few believe Smoltz will walk away without attempting a comeback. He says he still has the desire to pitch, and that was obvious when he began to speculate about the possibility of pitching in another postseason game.
“If I had my ultimate wish, it’s that I could come back for just a month or two and that it could be in the playoffs,” he said. “Oh my gosh, that would be great! That would be the ultimate.”
Meanwhile, Tom Glavine, who was placed on the disabled list on June 11 with a strained left elbow, hoped to learn more after meeting with his doctor Tuesday night.
Glavine originally was told to rest the elbow for four to six weeks, but said he has no assurance he’ll be ready by then.
“It’s the kind of thing that I’ve got to go slow with and really the most important thing at this time is getting it to calm down and start scarring itself over and that’s how it’s going to heal,” Glavine said.
Glavine said MRIs show the elbow ligament is strong. The problem is a tear in the flexor tendon, and he says only surgery can reveal the extent.
“In my mind I really don’t have a timetable in terms of `Hey, in four weeks you’re going to be fine or in four weeks you’re not,”’ he said. “I think that’s the nature of this injury, because you really can’t determine the extent of the tear.
“If it’s 90 percent off the bone, it’s one thing, but if it’s 10 percent that’s another. We don’t know and I’m certainly not letting them go in there without having to.”
Add A Comment