Joe Torre has an explanation for why Charlie Haeger couldn’t get an out
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Oh, it was a heel problem.
That’s what manager Joe Torre was implying prior to Sunday’s game, that the reason Charlie Haeger couldn’t get a single out before getting lifted Saturday night was because his foot was bothering him.
The quote below is courtesy of Dodgers public relations and is represented as generally what Torre said:
‘Charlie has been getting work on his heel. We’ll see what that’s about. It’s the right heel. I’m going to talk to our trainers and see what we’ve got.’
Do I really need to comment on this?
Just understand this: The Dodgers can’t call up right-hander John Ely, just sent down on Friday, for 10 days unless a pitcher is placed on the disabled list.
It seems a tad too transparent. I don’t have any problem with the Dodgers working the system, just more that they would try to use Haeger’s heel as an excuse for his horrible outing.
It’s not Torre’s fault that his pitching options are so poor -- that goes up the food chain to general manager Ned Colletti and then to owner Frank McCourt.
But it was Torre, likely with significant input from Colletti, who elected to start Haeger again and send down Ely. Now they have a problem of their own making.
Both in the short term, and down the road. Opening Day starter Vicente Padilla (elbow) is not expected back for a month. And even then, the Dodgers can hardly count on season-long health for the entire rotation.
Torre on the rotation, and via the team PR: ‘Where is the starting pitching help going to come from? When you have a good year, you don’t know where … but different people make contributions.
‘You are always concerned that you don’t have enough pitching. We lost our Opening Day starter. We have to find a way to figure it out and hang around.
‘I can’t concern myself with moves down the road. That doesn’t help me today or tomorrow. We need to stay competitive and not lose our composure.’
As opposed to losing confident in the rotation.
-- Steve Dilbeck