News
Blake playing it careful with hamstring
Dodgers third baseman sits third consecutive game
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
09/25/09 6:42 PM ET
PITTSBURGH -- Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake has been having hamstring problems off and on all season, which reminds him of 2005 while with Cleveland."I saw a therapist in Santa Barbara back then who knocked the issues out," Blake recalled. "My agent knew him and sent me there. Maybe I'll see him again. I don't know what happened this year. I think a lot of it has to do with hydration. I don't drink as much water as I should."
Blake also has never been 36 years old. Although manager Joe Torre speculated that Blake might return to the lineup Saturday night, he was out again Friday night for the third consecutive game and eighth out of the last 18 with the same tight left hamstring.
"It's been bothering me all season," he said. "I'm hoping that by being careful now, I'll be healthy for the postseason. That's the plan."
The plan is aided by the presence of Ronnie Belliard -- who has filled in for both Blake at third base and Orlando Hudson at second base -- and the September callup of Blake DeWitt, who started at third base Thursday and Friday nights.
Even though Blake has missed 18 games this year, he's checking in with exactly what the Dodgers were hoping he'd provide when they re-signed him to a three-year contract during the offseason.
He's hitting .280 with 18 homers and 77 RBIs and 82 runs scored while playing dependable defense at third base.
Friday night's lineup also was missing regular catcher Russell Martin. Torre said he gave Martin the night off after a late arrival in Pittsburgh following Thursday night's game. Brad Ausmus started at catcher. And Hudson returned after missing a start because he irritated his tender wrist in a collision and fall at first base Wednesday night.
In addition to spending nearly two extra hours at Washington Dulles Airport to have their luggage inspected before departing early Friday morning, the Dodgers lost another hour when their bus was diverted from the normal route to the club hotel.
All of that was the result of extremely tight security associated with the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, where President Obama hosted heads of state from the leading economic nations of the world.
Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
