Bobby Jenks Leaves Cactus Leagues First Game Due To Injury
By Michael Williams (3/19/2007)
After pitching to just three batters in the fifth inning, Bobby Jenks left the opening game of the Cactus League because he developed tightness in his right shoulder.
Jenks said that he already had the tightness when he came into the camp and this combined with his pitching mechanics led to aggravation of right shoulder. He said that he had spent the entire spring trying to loosen his shoulder because he did not have any internal rotation and now having bad pitching mechanics resulted in straining of the back of his shoulder and tightening up the muscles.
In the game, Jenks replaced Jon Garland and he started the frame. He hit Jayson Nix with a pitch and then walked Ian Stewart. He then pitched to Joe Koshansky but fell behind after pitching two ball outside the strike zone. It was then that Jenks called manager Ozzie Guillen, who removed Jenks immediately. At that point Jenks had pitched just 3 of his 9 pitches.
Jenks was replaced by Mike MacDougal who pitched a scoreless inning including one strikeout. MacDougal was followed by Matt Thornton who had two strikeouts. MacDougal and Thornton have been designated as setup men for Jenks and he does not foresee their role changing in the near future.
Jenks is due to have a checkup shortly but he thinks that the best treatment for him is to do some stretching exercises to relieve the tightness. Jenks further added that he was not in pain.
Manager Guillen added that Jenks would need to be careful as every time his pitching mechanics gets faulty, he was bound to have tightness in the shoulder in beginning of Spring Training. Guillen further said that he was not worried and the team would monitor Jenks progress to see how he was doing. |