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Friday night at Dodger Stadium was so strange and epic that it deserves another recap, but only after I have had time to fully digest the events of Friday the 13th. That post will come at some point on Saturday morning, but in the meantime there are two pieces of health news to pass along.
Relief pitcher Todd Coffey, who has retired only three of the eight batters he has faced in three games this season, including hits to both Padres he faced on Friday, has a right knee injury for which he has been receiving treatment lately, manager Don Mattingly said after the game. Coffey was unavailable for comment.
That is both relevant and timely for the Dodgers, who have to make a roster move to activate Saturday's schedule starter Ted Lilly off the disabled list. Josh Lindblom, the only reliever outside of Javy Guerra and Kenley Jansen with options, seemed destined to return to the minors despite his six scoreless innings so far. But if Coffey would need to go on the disabled list - and this is just speculation at his point - that means Lindblom stays.
"You can kind of see where we're using him, how he's pitching," Mattingly said. "We've used him twice in games we needed multiple innings, and we've used him twice now late in the game to try to get to our back end guys."
Catcher A.J. Ellis praised Lindblom as well.
"He's been huge. He's saved our bullpen a lot. He has shown he can do a lot of things," Ellis said. "He's shown he can throw the seventh. Tonight he showed he can throw the eighth. The guy has proven last year and this year that this guy is a back end of the bullpen major league pitcher."
In other news, bullpen coach Ken Howell won't be with the team through at least the end of the upcoming road trip to Milwaukee and Houston, as he is having health issues related to his Diabetes. Howell had to have a toe amputated in 2008 due to Diabetes. Pitching coach Jim Slaton has joined the Dodgers from the club's facilities in Glendale, Arizona, and will temporarily fill in until Howell returns.