Matheney to DL Moises almost ready to return

[Giants666]

NEW YORK -- Giants catcher Mike Matheny has routinely taken shots to the head -- much like an amateur prize fighter -- over the years, but foul tips particularly plagued him during the past week.
Last Wednesday, while playing against the Florida Marlins in Miami, Matheny took a 100-mph shot to his masked forehead and was taken out of the game, feeling woozy.

Because of the severity of the blow, and the fact the veteran backstop also was hit in the head on Monday, Matheny was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Friday following examination at the University of Pittsburgh hospital.

"Matheny is an incredibly tough guy ... but his brain is made the same as everyone else's," said trainer Stan Conte. "He wholeheartedly agreed [to go on the DL], and that tells you something.

"Our biggest concern after a negative CT scan on Wednesday was when to return him to play. He has a mild concussion, but he's had several of those the last couple of weeks. There is a cumulative effect."

The catcher did have blurry vision on Wednesday following that game.

Matheny will get four days of rest, without exertion. In Pittsburgh, the player saw national head-injury specialist Dr. Michael Collins, who gave Matheny short-term and long-term memory tests as well as cognitive tests to determine the concussion's effects.

Rookie catcher Eliezer Alfonzo was recalled from Double-A Connecticut to replace Matheny.

Backup catcher Todd Greene said he's had concussions before, but never from a foul ball.

"He's had a whole lot of them," said Greene of Matheny. "It's amazing how many he's had the last 10 days or so. You never notice that -- the trainer and backup catcher are the only ones who notice.

"The ball picks up speed off the bat. People make a big deal out of people getting hit in the head with a pitch, but we basically get that same effect pretty much daily."

Greene noted Matheny had already been hit several times during the Giants' recent homestand.

"Your head's a funny piece to the machine," said Greene. "You get your brain rattled a couple of times, and it's not like it heals overnight. I'm not a doctor, but I've had enough to know. You have headaches for a few days and think you're all right, then you take two more in the nugget -- that's not good."

The 35-year-old Matheny is a 12-year veteran and a four-time Gold Glove catcher, and he started 44 of the club's first 53 games. He's batting .231 overall but only .114 in the past 10 games.

Matheny was unable to fly out of Pittsburgh due to inclement weather.

Moises nearly ready: Outfielder Moises Alou's sprained right ankle has improved and he may return to play by Monday at the earliest, according to Conte.

"[It's] getting more and more possible," said the trainer, who earlier in the week indicated Alou had reached a plateau and was only around 85 percent healthy. That has changed.

"I would be surprised if it was later in the week. Things like today -- rain and no workouts -- doesn't help us any because we can't get him on the field running. But I was pleased how he was running in Florida."

It's not expected that Alou would play in Minor League rehab games.

"He has such a simple approach to hitting, with a small strike zone, he would have to go anywhere," said manager Felipe Alou. "He stands on the top of the plate and denies the pitcher the strike zone."

[Bear]

Matheny is making progress and may soon be able to play. They will look at new head gear to lessen the possible

[BoSox34]

Hopefully when Alou comes back from the DL, he will the RBI machine he was before he got hurt.

[Bear]

BoSox34...Alou is back and has been driving in runs in the first two since his return. Last night he hit a two run HR that helped win a very sloppy game. He is back but Matheny is still out and Bonds is hurting. One day we may see them all play together.

[SF Kid]

As we discussed before, with the age of our ball club injuries are going to happen more often than not. So one guy gets welll and another takes his place on the DL. Get used to it.

[Bear]

I am, but it is hard!

[Giants666]

Thank God for Stan Conte

[SF Kid]

When they said ``injuries aare part of the game" they were thinking specifically of the Giants.

[Bear]

Look around the league! Players are on the DL on every club. I think it is all the players who were on Roids coming off and breaking down. I do!

[love_that_reefer]

When they said ``injuries aare part of the game" they were thinking specifically of the Giants.

Last year it was the entire NL West who had more injuries than any other!

[SF Kid]

Look around the league! Players are on the DL on every club. I think it is all the players who were on Roids coming off and breaking down. I do!

There could be a lot of truth to that.

[Giants666]

Another 15 Days

MATHENY STILL HAZY: Catcher Mike Matheny is still battling some post-concussion symptoms and admits the process is beginning to frustrate him.

"I'm behind where I hoped to be," said Matheny, who won't begin baseball work until he is checked and re-checked. "In the past, I'd never say anything to the trainers. But this is a different situation. I'm being honest and going by whatever they tell me."

Matheny is eligible to come off the DL on Friday but figures there is no chance of that happening.

[SF Kid]

And the hits just keep coming.

[Giants666]

Disabled Matheny still lost in the fog

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Matheny's head remains in a fog, and he might not return before the All-Star break.
The disabled catcher traveled to Pittsburgh for another visit with a head trauma specialist Monday. Test results showed little change in his symptoms from post-concussion syndrome.

Those symptoms must subside before Matheny can return to full baseball activities, and Giants trainer Stan Conte said that probably won't happen for at least two weeks.

"We've done every test we can imagine on him," Conte said. "We didn't get bad news, but we didn't get the news we wanted."

Matheny hasn't played since May 31, when he took one of a series of foul tips to the mask. He spent last week resting at home in Chesterfield, Mo.

He is expected to return to the club today, play catch and hit off a tee.

"It won't be much," Conte said. "Just enough to keep him from going crazy."

[Giants666]

Matheny's injury adds clarity to a hazy area

It might be little consolation to Mike Matheny as he serves his indefinite term on the disabled list, but his extended absence following a concussion and openness about his condition could shine a bright light on a serious injury that surely strikes more catchers than everyone in the game realizes.

For decades, catchers who have been smacked in the mask by foul tips have spoken blithely of having their "bell rung." They shake it off and return to their squat, woozy or not, even if that bell could be the sound of a concussion, a neurological condition that must be given time to heal.

The issue is transparent in football and hockey. Forty-Niner fans are well versed in the saga of quarterback Steve Young and the multiple concussions that hastened his retirement. The injury is believed to be far less prevalent in baseball, but no less dangerous.

"It's a rarity, but I'm not surprised by it," said Dr. Michael Collins, a neuropsychologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is a pre-eminent authority on athletic head trauma and the doctor who is treating Matheny.

"This is an injury that can go under the radar," Collins said. "It's not like an individual wearing a cast on his head or limping. It's not like you're wearing a cast and you're immobilized and you can't move properly. With a concussion, athletes theoretically can play through this at their own risk. That's why recognizing the injury initially and using the right tools and making sure the athlete is safe to go out to play is so important."

The high-tech masks and helmets catchers wear absorb much of the energy, but the force of repeated foul tips can be damaging.

"It's something we all shrug off because it doesn't hurt," Matheny said. "But there are a lot of blackouts you go through, fuzziness you go through, year after year."

Collins estimates athletes incur 2 million to 3 million concussions a year in the United States. He called it a "rarity" in baseball but cannot say how rare because there is no scientific data. That could change. As Collins and Giants head trainer Stan Conte have conferred about Matheny since he was injured May 31, they have discussed the need for such research, and a study could be forthcoming.

Already, Matheny's injury has caused the Giants to rethink how they should assess and treat catchers throughout their system when they receive multiple foul tips to the head, as Matheny did in short order.

"Mike thinks he's being a wimp by even going on the disabled list," Conte said earlier this month. "We have that mentality, which is bred into catchers. It makes us look a lot closer at what we're doing with catchers, not just at the major-league level, but at the minor-league level, too.

"We teach these kids that they're supposed to take hits and that's normal and they can't complain. And we might be missing a lot of stuff, and we're going to look at that a lot more closely in our minor leagues."

Collins said concussions are difficult to assess because they are not evident on an MRI exam or a CT scan. The injury, he said, causes more subtle damage to the chemical processes in the brain. Collins and two colleagues devised a computerized test, called ImPACT, which measures a patient's cognitive brain functions. The test provides an objective tool for gauging impairment and improvement.

Collins would not discuss Matheny's case because of doctor-patient privacy, but Matheny said Tuesday he took the test in Pittsburgh on Monday and the score was no better than it was on June 1. As a result, the Giants will not allow him to begin serious baseball work.

Each concussion causes exponentially more damage than the first, Collins said, but the common perception that having one makes you more vulnerable to a second is truer when the brain is not healed fully. When treated properly, an athlete can reduce his vulnerability. Collins checks off three boxes before clearing someone to return to the field: no symptoms when he is at rest, no symptoms when he exerts himself and a normal score on the ImPACT test.

Matheny said he continues to get head rushes when he stands quickly, so clearly he is not close. The Giants are being super-cautious with the 35-year-old catcher, but no more cautious than Kristin Matheny.

"My wife is very concerned," he said. "She knows what I will play through more than anybody else. She knows the things I've been blessed enough to play through that I don't know if other people would play through or not. I think she's afraid I'm going to do that with this. She's being very smart to let me know we have to take this slow, and she's right, but every day it's harder for me because there have been things worse than this to play through."

Collins, 37, was a left-handed pitcher for the 1989 University of Southern Maine team that went to the NCAA Division III World Series, so he understands the athlete mentality. As a consultant to Major League Baseball, he has seen not only catchers but umpires sustain concussions from foul tips, and said awareness was raised before Matheny got hurt. Perhaps, though, his injury will spur an even closer look.

"The Giants have been phenomenal in their response to this," Collins said. "I've been very impressed by how much Stan understands the core issues. In football, we see it all the time. He himself has voiced a desire do more research in this area. It is a research question."