Wilmington Evening Journal - March 21, 1980

Line drive fells Christenson

By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor

CLEARWATER, Fla. – You know it's spring. Phillies' righthander Larry Christenson has been injured again.

This time Christenson calls himself "lucky." He'll miss a week, not several months, if things go well.

A year ago, the hard-luck pitcher fell off a bike in California and missed spring training and was generally ineffective for the entire season. Yesterday in Lakeland, Christenson was drilled below the left knee by a screaming liner off Jason Thompson's bat in the third inning, which took all the fun out of a 10-4 victory over Mark Fidrych and the Detroit Tigers.

The instant the ball struck the tall right-hander, Christenson crumbled to the mound at Marchant Field. Minutes later, he was taken from the field on a stretcher and rushed to a hospital where X-rays proved negative.

As the Phils prepared for the bus trip back here, however, two players had to carry Larry onto the bus.

"He is not on crutches," said Dr. Phillip J. Marone, who examined Christenson last night. "He has what amounts to a very deep bruise on the inside of his left knee. I would estimate he will not be able to pitch for from five to seven days."

"I guess I am lucky," said the injury-plagued Christenson. "If it had been a little bit more to the left, it would have hit the center of the kneecap. Everybody says it would have shattered."

Christenson, 26, has been hampered by injuries most of his five-plus years in the majors. Last season he was one of many Phillies' pitchers who went down, leading the parade when he fractured a collarbone during a February benefit bicycle caravan.

He did not pitch until May 12 and, after returning, went on the disabled list July 3 with a severe groin pull. On Sept. 17 he underwent surgery for the removal of a bone spur on the collarbone.

"L C. has certainly had some bad luck," said Green. "Seems like he gets over one thing and something else happens."

"It hurt so bad at first I couldn't even talk," said Christenson. "I know it's going to be stiff tomorrow and is going to put me a week behind in my preparation."

Christenson's best year was 1977 when he won 19 and lost 6. Last season he was 5-10 and the year before 13-14.

Prior to yesterday, he had pitched three strong innings, allowing no runs and three hits.

"I felt like I was on schedule," said Christenson. "After last year, I was determined to contribute to the pitching staff. If it had to happen, at least it happened early enough in spring training. I still have time to get back in a good groove."

For the Tigers, yesterday confirmed the doubts they have about Fidrych. The Bird has not worked much the past three seasons because of an arm ailment. The Phils made a loser out of him yesterday and he was forced to leave the game in the third inning after throwing 46 pitches.

Fidrych was the talk of baseball four years ago when he posted a 19-9 record and led the American League with a 2.34 earned run average and 24 complete games while winning Rookie of the Year honors.

The last three years, though, have produced only an 8-8 record and numerous trips to the disabled list with a sore arm and tender shoulder. Like Christenson, Fidrych tried to find a ray of hope in his latest mishap. He said yesterday's stiffness was not related to his previous problems.

"When I started out, I could feel it," Fidrych said. "It was just stiff and it kept getting stiffer. It had nothing to do with the previous injury. I've never had anything like this. It's sort of a pain in the thrust muscle under my right arm. That's the best way I can describe it. It's painful."

Manager Sparky Anderson also was up in the air.

"I don't honestly know what to tell you about the Bird, either," he said. "We can only wait and hope. Maybe it's just some minor thing and he'll be able to pitch again in five days. We'll just have to wait and see."

Rookie catcher Keith Moreland had three hits and drove in two runs to lead the Phils' attack en route to their fifth victory in seven Grapefruit League games.

The Phils vaulted out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning against Fidrych as Moreland singled in a run and Pete Rose doubled in three more. Moreland homered leading off the fourth and four Detroit errors helped the Phils pad their lead.

Left-hander Carlos Arroyo followed Christenson to the mound and again was impressive. He pitched 3⅓ innings, allowing just two hits.

"You have to be impressed the way Arroyo is pitching," said Green. "He has pitched almost six innings now and has yet to give up a run."

EXTRA POINTS - Former Phils' first baseman Richie Hebner, now back at third for Detroit, bounced into two double plays yesterday... Wilmington's John Wockenfuss tripled in two at-bats for the Tigers.

Sore shoulder gives Nino Espinosa fits

By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor

CLEARWATER, FLA. – Nino Espinosa looked worried. Very worried.

"I'm not worried," Nino Espinosa said in broken English. "I've been to a buncb of different doctors and they all say the same thing – it will go away."

Espinosa's shoulder is aching so much he has done little more than lob a baseball since he arrived from his native Dominican Republic the first week of March.

Nino obviously is white-lying about not being worried because with spring training already past the midway point, there is no way he will be able to take his place in the Phillies' rotation when the season opens on April 11. In fact, if the shoulder doesn't come around quickly, it's doubtful Nino will accompany the team back to Philadelphia.

The men who run the Phillies' think tank are trying to keep a low profile in this matter but, after yesterday's mishap in Lakeland, the situation suddenly became more crucial. Larry Christenson, another right-handed starter, was drilled on the knee by a Jason Thompson liner in the third inning of the exhibition game against Detroit.

Christenson was lucky to suffer only a deep bruise but he will not be able to pitch for about a week.

Espinosa, who was the Phils' second-leading winner last season with a 14-12 record, said the shoulder problem started last August.

"I was warming up to pitch against the Reds," said Espinosa, who came to the Phils a year ago from the Mets in the Richie Hebner deal. "It was strange. My right shoulder began to stiffen."

DESPITE THE STIFFNESS, Espinosa allowed the Reds just five hits and pitched a complete game as the Phils won 3-2. That victory raised his record to 13-9.

"My shoulder stayed stiff after that," he said, "but I continued to pitch. I thought maybe it was natural that late in the season."

Espinosa won only once after that Aug. 15 game in Cincinnati. When it became obvious he was laboring, the Phils had the shoulder examined. The diagnosis was that his shoulder was tired from pitching 212 innings.

"We were out of the race," Manager Dallas Green said. "We felt the best thing for Nino was to go home and rest the shoulder."

"I usually pitch in winter ball, but I only threw twice down there this year," Espinosa said. "I just wanted to test the shoulder. It didn't feel as bad then as it did in September. And right now, it doesn't hurt as much as it did in December back home."

"We're bringing him along very slowly," said pitching coach Herm Starrette. "We can only go with four starters the first month of the season and we'll undoubtedly hold him out to let him get healthy."

"The doctors say it is merely a matter of building back strength in the shoulder again," said Espinosa. "I just pitched too many innings.

"I never threw every four days before last year. With the Mets, it was always five. Danny Ozark liked me to pitch every four days. He had to do that because of all the injuries we had oo the pitching staff. We lost three starters in one day."

There was a time last season when Espinosa was the only healthy starter the Phillies had. They obtained him as the fourth starter, but during once stretch he was the ace of the staff. Between April 15 and May 10, he pitched 34⅓ innings without allowing an earned run. He was 3-0 in April and 5-1 in July. He had three shutouts and was 8-3 vs. Western Division teams.

"This is the first time I have ever had any problems like this," he said. "I don't know what to expect. Usually, every year I come to spring training already in good shape. I'd fust come, grab the ball and throw like everybody else. So this has been really hard. I don't know – I guess we all go through this at least once."

Trainer Don Seger insists what Espinosa is going through right now is not a recurrence of his late-summer problem.

"The problem right now is like a product of his having not thrown all winter," said Seger. "It's still important, however, not to push it."

“I'm just trying to improve a little bit every time I get on the mound," said Espinosa. "The reason I am not throwing batting practice or anything like that is that they're afraid I will go out there and start throwing hard. That would put me back where I was before."

"We're going to take our time with Nino," Dallas Green said.

Frankly, he has no other choice.