Sunday, May 15, 2011

Coffey has bruised elbow, no break

Todd Coffey was sporting a large welt that including visible seams from the baseball that struck him near the right elbow during today's game, but the Nationals reliever appears to have avoided serious injury.

X-rays came back negative, and Coffey's status is day-to-day with a bruise.

"It just a little sore," he said. "I already did about three rounds of ice on it and treatment. The key now is just get the swelling down. The doctor looked at it, and nothing's broken, which is the main thing. Get the swelling out, and I'll be good to go."

The right-hander entered from the Nationals' bullpen -- with his usual sprint to the mound -- with two outs in the top of the seventh. Marlins second baseman Emilio Bonifacio crushed a line drive straight back up the middle, and Coffey couldn't get out of the way fast enough. The ball struck him just above his right elbow and caromed toward shortstop Alex Cora for an eventual infield single.

"The initial thought is: Get an out," he said. "Honest to god, I'm looking for the ball to see if I can get to it first. Then I saw it bounce over there, then I figure out where it actually hit me."

Coffey was escorted off the field by a trainer, holding him arm gingerly at his side. He said he's been struck by batted balls before, but never that close to his elbow.

As it turns out, he considered himself lucky. Had the ball struck him one inch lower, directly on the elbow, he believes it would have caused the bone to break.

"I'm going charge in the next time," Coffey said. "I'll be ready to go, hopefully in a day or two."

22 comments:

Cwj said...

Hoping for a quick healing for Coffey. He's really been solid lately.

natsfan1a said...

Glad that's all it is, as it looked and sounded quite bad on tv. Agreed re. the quick healing, Cwj.

Anonymous said...

Doc Tarheel says: Put some Western North Carolina BBQ on it, Todd. Add hush puppies and sweet tea and you'll be good as new.

Cwj said...

Speaking of relief pitchers, anyone checked Reds' pitcher Aroldis Chapman's stats lately? Not sure what happened to him, but here's the gory details:
in last 1.1 IP he's given up 10(!) ER, and walked 12(!). 12 Walks in 1.1 innings!!! Good heavens!
Just thought I'd throw that out there. Some people seemed to consider him the second coming of Goose Gossage :)

Anonymous said...

Nats doctor says that there is no break.

Kiss of death.

Cwj said...

Does anyone remember the name of the Nats reliever (think it was during their inaugural season) who broke his arm during a game?
All I remember is that it was a nasty injury.
Darn, what was his name...

Mark Zuckerman said...

Cwj: Joey Eischen? I think he broke his arm diving for a ball near the mound at RFK Stadium early in 2005.

Cwj said...

Eischen! Yep that's him, thanks Mark! :)
You're right I believe he was diving for the ball.

Ernie said...

Headline should be: "Nats Docs say No Coffee Break"

Ok. Maybe not.

Anonymous said...

@Ernie

LOL, nice.

Anonymous8 said...

I am nervous being down 1 more reliever for a few games as Clippard shouldn't pitch tomorrow and maybe not Kimball.

That leaves Storen, Burnett, HenRod, and Slaten to carry the load for tomorrow as Lannan needs to go a good 7 innings.

Do you DL Coffey now and get a fresh arm up here?

UnkyD said...

Cjw: those Chapman numbers are hard to believe... Just looked at his stats, and he's at 4.26 ERA, which ain't pretty for a reliever, but a 10 run inning would wreck that, this early on. You sure there's not a typo in there...?

Doc said...

Good for Kimball,now it's time for Riggleman to release his inner Ozzie, and give some more work to HRod.

If CKim can do it, so can HRod. We've got a great BP shaping up here. Maybe even room for BallyStar at some point.

Gooooooooooooooooooo Nats!

Les in NC said...

We could put him on the new 7 day DL, and bring up someone...

With the track record of the Nationals training staff, day to day would mean at least a week anyway, right?

MicheleS said...

Just glad Todd is okay. I saw the knot on his arm on TV and it looked NASTY..and PAINFUL. Hopefully the training staff/DR is right and he will be okay in a couple of days

SonnyG10 said...

@Earnie

Very good one!

Cwj said...

Unkyd- here it is: http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/30442/aroldis-chapman

Take a look at his game log. It's hard to believe but true.

UnkyD said...

Yikes!!! That's crazy.... And he's been clocked at 106...

Remember Kruk, running for cover, vs The Unit, at the All Star game a few years back? Must be what it feels like stepping in against this guy... Put on the full-body helmet!

Anonymous said...

Is there any explanation as to why the game wasn't on channel 50 yesterday?

UnkyD said...

Was it supposed to be?

Manassas Nats Fan said...

Knowing the medical staff here, the arm could easily be broken.

Anonymous said...

I was at my first game of the season yesterday. I noticed the Coffey Time Stop watch on teh Scoreboard. 13.5 seconds I think? Does anyone keep track of his times?

Speedy recovery to you!

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