SAN DIEGOCliff Lee believes he is heading in the right direction and could recover quickly from the left oblique strain that landed him on the disabled list Saturday.
We were debating on whether to just miss a start or go on the 15-day DL, he said. So we erred on the side of caution and played it safe. I can't really argue with that.
The past couple of days it was pretty sore. But today it felt better than yesterday. We're heading in the right direction. Hopefully Ill miss just a couple of starts and it will be back to normal.
Lee injured the oblique throwing a pitch in his 10th inning of work in Wednesdays game at San Francisco. He pitched 10 shutout innings in the Phillies 1-0 loss.
I felt a little something in the game and I didn't think really much about it, to be honest with you, he said. The next day it was sore and when I threw it lingered around.
The injury brings into questions Lees workload. He became the first pitcher since 2007 to go 10 innings. On the surface, that is striking, but Lee was at just 89 pitches after nine innings and finished the 10th with just 102. He threw more than that 19 times in 2011.
That didn't matter, Lee said of the length of his outing. I felt fine the whole time. I threw 102 pitches. I've thrown more pitches than that in five or six innings. I don't think that had anything to do with it.
MLB
Lee will be eligible to come off the DL on May 4, though time will tell if that will happen. It is important that oblique injuries heal completely so they dont linger.
Kyle Kendrick will start in Lees place Monday in Phoenix. Left-handed reliever Joe Savery was recalled from Triple-A to take Lees place on the active roster.
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com