By the numbers, anyway. Valverde's calf strain was listed as a Grade 4, and he missed 41 games.
"I wish I wouldn't have played the last couple of days. That way I would be a little quicker to get back on the field. But I think at some point you have to try it and I just wasn't making a whole lot of progress. ... I'm disappointed and I don't think it's going to take the whole two weeks, but you don't have many options when you're talking about the disabled list...
...If we were in September or even late August, and we were still right there, I doubt I would have seriously even missed a game. But having gone through something like this earlier in the year with Jose, you sit there and you think, 'Well yeah, you can try and push through it,' but then something like that might happen and then you're done for the year. That's the last thing I want and the last thing the organization wants...
...Certainly this is an inopportune time, and clearly not the way I would draw it up. But sometimes you have to do something unpleasant for the overall good of the team. Hopefully this will take care of it and we can move on down the road."
It's also pointed out that Coste will start at first against left-handed pitching, and against the RHPs Blum, and even Pudge, can play first. With Pudge at first, Coste can take up behind the plate and keep his currently hot bat in the lineup.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
