Schilling could be throwing in four months
There was a bit of vindication for both Curt Schilling and Dr. Craig Morgan yesterday, as Morgan completed surgery on the right shoulder of the Red Sox pitcher. Not only did the surgery go well, but the findings were as good as could have been expected from the examinations done prior to the arthroscopic procedure. Morgan called it "kind of a best-case scenario."
While Morgan was planning on performing biceps tenodesis surgery - in which the biceps tendon is moved outside the shoulder into a hole in the bone where the diseased tendon can repair itself - he wasn't entirely sure what he would find with regards to the labrum and the rotator cuff, especially the rotator cuff.
With the rotator cuff, there was really only good news for Schilling. Morgan said it had an unusual tear, but not a major one. It took just one stitch to repair.
"The status of the rotator cuff was much better than was predicted," Morgan said. "He did have disease in the biceps tendon, that was his major problem. We transferred the biceps tendon.
"[He had an] unusual tear of the rotator cuff, small partial thickness, no separation from the bone. Small undersurface tear.
"What we didn't want to find is a big rotator cuff tear, because that's a long rehab."
Morgan described the labrum as "the rubber tire that surrounds the periphery of the rim," if the socket of the shoulder is considered like a wheel on a car. Essentially, he said, it was as if the tire separated from the wheel.
According to Morgan, the problem with the labrum might have been part of the reason for the disease in the tendon. Describing the procedure, Morgan said, "Inside the shoulder, this tendon attaches right at the top of the socket inside the shoulder. We cut it and released it and put it outside the shoulder in a little hole in the bone. [We] fixed it there with a little screw."
Had there been a major problem with the rotator cuff, that likely would have ended Schilling's career, which still remains in jeopardy. With the biceps tenodesis surgery, along with the repair of the labrum tear, Morgan said Schilling could be four months away from picking up a baseball. The rehab for the labrum tear is very similar to the one for the biceps issue, which means that his rehab won't be significantly altered.
"About four months to a throwing program, if he decides he wants to pursue that," Morgan said. "The rehab after this will be very similar to the rehab that he went through in 1995 when he had the SLAP [surgery to repair a labral tear and to remove a bone spur]. But he was 28 then, he's 41 now. We don't have anything to fix that one."
Keeping an eye on him
Even though Kevin Youkilis's precautionary CT scan was negative, the Sox will evaluate him further this morning. The area below Youkilis's right eye became swollen and discolored moments after he was hit by a warmup throw across the diamond from Mike Lowell before the fifth inning. He was forced to leave the game, with Brandon Moss taking his place. Moss was the only first baseman left in the dugout, given that Sean Casey started serving his three-game suspension stemming from the brawl with the Rays. "We will certainly reevaluate him in the morning and see where it goes," said manager Terry Francona. "If it gets too swollen, it's certainly going to limit his eyesight, which wouldn't be good to play him tomorrow, so we'll see how he's doing."Still waiting . . .
Last night's game was delayed 32 minutes at the start, the third time in four games weather has caused a delay with a Fenway start . . . The Sox are now 0-4 against the Diamondbacks at Fenway, making Arizona the only team that has played at Fenway and not lost to the Sox . . . Dustin Pedroia's strikeout in the third inning broke a streak of 72 plate appearances without a strikeout, the longest streak in the majors. He hadn't struck out since June 4 . . . David Aardsma ended his streak of six straight strikeouts, but he did strike out two more batters in his one inning. That gives him eight over the last three innings he's pitched. He also has worked 7 1/3 scoreless innings over his last seven appearances.Crisp plays defense
Casey will serve his suspension before the Red Sox head back to a National League park (Houston) Friday, when they will use additional players because of the NL rules. Coco Crisp, who was docked the most games for that brawl (seven), had the hearing of his appeal yesterday. He met with Bob Watson, baseball's chief disciplinarian, to plead his case. A decision is expected today or tomorrow. "There's nothing really to talk about now because I have no information," said Crisp, "other than I thought it went fine." . . . Pedroia collected his eighth steal of the season Sunday, making him 8 for 8 this season. And while the Sox aren't exactly looking for that kind of production from him, they'll take it. "I think he thinks he can steal 60," Francona said. "So we kind of keep an eye on him a little bit. There are some times when we think he can steal bases and we really don't want him to. You have like a David Ortiz standing up there with the hole open. You're already in scoring position. We've talked to him kind of extensively about how we feel about it. He's doing a good job." The Sox are second in the majors to Philadelphia with an 83.5 success rate on steals (71 for 85). The Phillies are at 89.4 percent. The Sox are fourth overall in steals.