Fire Gardy

Joe Nathan claimed injury a bit ago and pulled out of Team USA. At the time, the argument was whether we had to worry about his shoulder this season versus whether he just wanted an excuse to get out of the WBC. Well, I think we now have our answer.

The day after Team USA made its tournament debut with a win over Team Canada, Joe Nathan returned to the mound in a spring training game, tossing a perfect inning while striking out Aubrey Huff and Ty Wigginton (two legitimate MLB regulars). And, perhaps more importantly, said this afterwards:

“Everything went as good as it could,” Nathan said. “No discomfort at all. More importantly, I didn’t really think about it out there. I think we can probably put this behind us now and move forward and get into a little rhythm here.”

I don’t know if the issue is fully “closed” now, but it’s certainly close. The “soreness” he was allegedly feeling in a particular joint in his shoulder has miraculously disappeared immediately after the WBC started, and now he can get back to pitching for the Twins and getting ready for the season.

Raise your hand if you called this one.

1 comment