Dodgers Web musings: Long before Kuo’s struggles, there was Steve Blass

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This is not an encouraging story for Hong-Chih Kuo, and there are plenty of those out there.

But ESPN/LA’s Tony Jackson talked to ex-Pirates pitcher Steve Blass, who suffered the same kind of sudden, unexplainable inability to throw a ball where he wanted that has landed Kuo on the disabled list with an anxiety disorder.

Blass lost control in 1973, in what was such a classic case of the “yips’’ it is now often called the Steve Blass Disease.

Blass, unfortunately, never did recover.

“I never fully understood what happened,’’ he said. “But I was lucky in that it was toward the back of a career in which I already had done far more than I ever dreamed of. I tell people if that happened to me today, I would just go to Harvard Medical School and say, ‘Fix me.’ But that was a different era.’’

Also on the Web:

-- The Orange County Register’s Landon Hall talks to a clinical psychologist to discuss Kuo and how his stress compares to the rest of us in the workplace.

-- The Times’ Bill Shaikin reports on Commissioner Bud Selig’s meeting with the press Thursday in New York, where he denies MLB is dragging its feet on the investigation of the Dodgers’ finances.

-- Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman came away from the meetings convinced Frank McCourt is a solitary figure among other owners and is running out of time.

-- Selig’s monitor, Tom Schieffer, tells the Associated Press that are composed of 26 interlocking companies and calls his task “daunting,’’ with video.

-- The Times’ Dylan Hernandez writes how the Dodgers are battling injuries largely by relying on their starting pitching.

-- Russell Martin gets a long look by ESPN’s Amy Nelson, including a picture of his new brainstorm: Getting his nails polished so pitchers can more easily pick up his signs.

-- The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Todd Dewey profiles John Lindsey and how he hungers for another trip to the Dodgers.

-- True Blue LA’s Phil Gurnee previews Kirk Gibson’s Arizona Diamondbacks as they start a three-game visit to Dodger Stadium Friday night.

-- Steve Dilbeck