Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Waiting for Morneau: Twins slugger still ailing from concussion

Minnesota Twins slugger Justin Morneau saw a specialist in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to get a progress report on the concussion that has sidelined him since July 7.

The visit went well, Morneau said, but he did not receive clearance to resume playing baseball.

This is not what the Twins or their fans wanted to hear, but Morneau simply is not ready.

Ten months is a long time to not have Morneau around. But the masses still tend to look at concussions through the prism of, say, five years ago, when doctors were much more ignorant of the effects of brain injuries.

There's a sense of eagerness, worry and disappointment out there, especially considering this optimistic-sounding tweet (and accompanying story) posted earlier this week by Minneapolis Star Tribune beat writer LaVelle Neal:

"Gardenhire: Morneau headed to Pittsburgh soon to get cleared to play."

That's not quite right. Reading between the lines on this MLB.com story, it sounds like Morneau went to Pittsburgh thinking getting clearance to play was possible, but not probable:

"Everything's still going good," Morneau said while talking to reporters in the clubhouse in Fort Myers, Fla., before the Twins left to play the Pirates in Bradenton.

"It wasn't like, 'Hey, if something happened we were going to run up and see the doctor.' It was something already planned. It's been planned for a while."

Morneau will continue with the same workouts — including live batting practice and fielding — just no game action, because of the risk to his head.

Morneau still hopes to be ready by opening day. He just doesn't know yet. What are doctors looking for so he can play?

"If I feel like things are getting through every day symptom-free without any headaches, without any fogginess, without anything, when we have that more than one or two days in a row or whatever it is, we'll go and hopefully get cleared. When that is, I can't tell you. I don't know. I have no idea," [Morneau said.]

A major setback now probably would cost him a lot more than 10 months. It might cost him his career, or worse.

We all should be as patient as Morneau is trying to be.

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Claudette Ortiz Julia Stiles Marisa Miller AnnaLynne McCord Emma Heming

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