Dead arm? At the moment, Jason Hammel's arm feels like it's dead and buried.
"I've had a dead arm, but this is what I'd call an extreme dead arm," Hammel said. "I can't say it's numb because usually with numbness there's tingling. There's no tingling. It's just really, really tired."
Hammel still is scheduled to take his normal turn in the rotation Saturday against the Giants, but nothing is certain at this point. He disclosed Tuesday that his arm, specifically the shoulder area, has bothered him for about a month.
Sure enough, he has struggled in his last three starts, allowing 13 earned runs in 15 innings. The Rockies lost two of the three games. Before that, they had won 16 of Hammel's previous 22 starts.
He wants to believe it's just fatigue, it's just September being September, but Hammel has never been down these roads before. He's never left a game, as he did after four innings in Sunday's loss to the Dodgers, because the spark plugs in his shoulder weren't firing.
"I'm very convinced there's definitely fatigue setting in," he said. "I'm not the guy who would just quit on fatigue. But I was leaving the ball up and not getting guys out again.
"It's baseball. It's a long season, so I fully expect to get fatigued. But for it to kind of shut down in a game like that, where I was getting no feedback out of my shoulder at all . . . it just didn't feel right."
In a perfect world, Hammel's arm issues will prove to be a short-term nuisance. In that world, he would start Saturday and give the Rockies six or seven strong innings against San Francisco.
And if not? Then the dominoes could start falling. If Hammel can't pitch Saturday, it would further tax a rotation already weakened by Aaron Cook's season-ending broken leg. Esmil Rogers would start, which would force newly acquired Octavio Dotel into Rogers' role in the bullpen.
If Hammel tries to go Saturday but lasts only a few innings, it would put more pressure on an already weary bullpen.
Yes, the Rockies have a 12-man bullpen thanks to the expanded rosters. But that doesn't mean Jim Tracy has 12 relievers he trusts. And make no doubt, these final two weeks of the season are all about trust.
It's crucial that Hammel, if he's good to go on Saturday, goes deep into the game. Just like it's crucial that Jeff Francis, Thursday's starter, goes more than the three innings he worked in his last outing. Because don't look now, but the Rockies have had their last off day of 2010.
"We have no days off . . . so you're not really interested in a number of real short starts," Tracy said. "You've got certain guys down there (in the bullpen) who, in certain situations, you're going to go to. You kind of feel like, in the back of your mind, like you've been grinding on the guy for a while. You really don't want to put yourself in that position."
"I've had a dead arm, but this is what I'd call an extreme dead arm," Hammel said. "I can't say it's numb because usually with numbness there's tingling. There's no tingling. It's just really, really tired."
Hammel still is scheduled to take his normal turn in the rotation Saturday against the Giants, but nothing is certain at this point. He disclosed Tuesday that his arm, specifically the shoulder area, has bothered him for about a month.
Sure enough, he has struggled in his last three starts, allowing 13 earned runs in 15 innings. The Rockies lost two of the three games. Before that, they had won 16 of Hammel's previous 22 starts.
He wants to believe it's just fatigue, it's just September being September, but Hammel has never been down these roads before. He's never left a game, as he did after four innings in Sunday's loss to the Dodgers, because the spark plugs in his shoulder weren't firing.
"I'm very convinced there's definitely fatigue setting in," he said. "I'm not the guy who would just quit on fatigue. But I was leaving the ball up and not getting guys out again.
"It's baseball. It's a long season, so I fully expect to get fatigued. But for it to kind of shut down in a game like that, where I was getting no feedback out of my shoulder at all . . . it just didn't feel right."
In a perfect world, Hammel's arm issues will prove to be a short-term nuisance. In that world, he would start Saturday and give the Rockies six or seven strong innings against San Francisco.
And if not? Then the dominoes could start falling. If Hammel can't pitch Saturday, it would further tax a rotation already weakened by Aaron Cook's season-ending broken leg. Esmil Rogers would start, which would force newly acquired Octavio Dotel into Rogers' role in the bullpen.
If Hammel tries to go Saturday but lasts only a few innings, it would put more pressure on an already weary bullpen.
Yes, the Rockies have a 12-man bullpen thanks to the expanded rosters. But that doesn't mean Jim Tracy has 12 relievers he trusts. And make no doubt, these final two weeks of the season are all about trust.
It's crucial that Hammel, if he's good to go on Saturday, goes deep into the game. Just like it's crucial that Jeff Francis, Thursday's starter, goes more than the three innings he worked in his last outing. Because don't look now, but the Rockies have had their last off day of 2010.
"We have no days off . . . so you're not really interested in a number of real short starts," Tracy said. "You've got certain guys down there (in the bullpen) who, in certain situations, you're going to go to. You kind of feel like, in the back of your mind, like you've been grinding on the guy for a while. You really don't want to put yourself in that position."
