2010 Comes Early!

Thanks to Mike Hampton's leaving his last start after five innings with a sore shoulder, Yorman Bazardo will be taking his place in the rotation for at least one start - on Wednesday vs. Florida.

Coop, on whether or not Hampton will be able to go Saturday:
“He's hopefully going to throw an aggressive-type pen, and we'll make a determination. If he's OK, we'll slide him in. He'd have to go probably Saturday if he's OK.”
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And Tejada was forced to take a day off yesterday, though he came in for the 9th as a defensive replacement. Coop is taking a hard line on giving older, fatter (ha!) guys days off. Like Carlos Lee:
“(Tejada) needs a little bit of time. He's definitely in a little bit of a funk, and he hadn't had a break. We need him to be fresh, because we feed off what he does.
It's understandable he's struggling a little bit. It's been a long year. He has played almost every inning of every game. He's had one heck of a year. He's getting a little older. When you get a little older, you need breaks. That's just the way it is. I'm probably going to have to end up doing this for Carlos (Lee), too. I'm not going to ask. I'm just going to do it.“
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Brocail will apparently be ready to go once he's eligible to come off the DL. And Brocail's shoulder has recovered more quickly since Roy found a flaw in his mechanics:
“I'm not anticipating any problems. Once Roy got me back up on top, everything's been fine. I think it's because I've pitched around pain so much. I've had all the arm surgeries. I was searching, searching. Roy comes over, and I think he was tired of hearing me complain about it. He told me what he'd noticed. Two days later, I was back out there throwing 180 feet again.”

Not so fast, says Coop:
“He's got to throw a few (bullpen sessions). He might even have to throw a simulated (game). We've got to build him back up. It's already the 15th, and if you throw in maybe two more pens and a couple of simulated games, you're almost talking close to September. It might be worth giving him a chance to really recover. We'll have to revisit that.”