News
By Brian McTaggart / MLB.com
07/28/10 3:19 PM ET
HOUSTON -- Manager Brad Mills said veteran infielder Geoff Blum could be sent out on a Minor League rehab this weekend.Blum, who had surgery July 7 to remove loose bone chips in his right elbow, has been taking batting practice and fielding ground balls for a few days. The switch-hitter was batting .241 with 14 RBIs in 137 at-bats before getting injured.
"If everything keeps progressing like it has so far, we'll send him out," Mills said. "This morning when I talked to him, he felt like he'd be ready to go."
Mills wasn't sure how many at-bats Blum would need before rejoining the team.
"We'll see how he responds and how he feels after getting three or four at-bats," he said. "He might only need a couple the first day, and then three the next day and four the couple of days. Kind of work up to that."
Right-hander Jeff Fulchino, on the disabled list since June 29 with right elbow tendinitis, made his second rehab appearance for Triple-A Round Rock on Wednesday and gave up two hits and struck out one batter in one inning at Oklahoma City. He threw 18 pitches, 10 for strikes.
Keppinger out of finale for precaution
HOUSTON -- Starting second baseman Jeff Keppinger, who left Tuesday's game against the Cubs with a stiff lower back, wasn't in the starting lineup Wednesday. Keppinger left the game shortly after being hit in the side by a pitch, but he said it was unrelated to his back issues.
"It was getting a little bit tight, and I didn't want it to lock up like it did last year," said Keppinger, who missed seven games in September last year with tightness in his back. "Lance [Berkman] hit the grand slam [to give the Astros a 6-0 lead in the seventh], so I wanted to make sure it didn't lock up. It's precautionary."
Keppinger, who is hitting .283 with four homers and 34 RBIs, said he would be available to play Wednesday, though manager Brad Mills had other ideas.
"We just need to give him today [off]," Mills said. "If we have to use him today, he'll be available. He'll probably say he's OK. We'll see how he goes taking some ground balls and hitting. His back was stiffening up before he got hit."
Lee dealing best he can with offensive woes
HOUSTON -- Carlos Lee is long past the point at which you could say he's simply off to a poor start. Lee, who hit .306 with an average of 29 homers and 107 RBIs in his first three years in Houston, was hitting .237 with 12 homers and 48 RBIs entering Wednesday.
"I was talking to one of my teammates and said there's going to be times you don't feel good and you slump and you go through bad stretches or tough stretches, but I never thought this late in the season I'd still be [struggling]," Lee said. "I guess that's one of the things you have to learn how to deal with and keep going. I ain't going to give up or let down because I've been struggling the whole year. I've got to keep going and try hard and do my best until the end."
Until this month, Lee was progressing. He hit .183 in April, .224 in May and .283 in June before holding a .247 batting average in July prior to Wednesday.
"It's been tough, because at the beginning of the year, I was hitting a lot of balls hard, but right at somebody," he said. "I couldn't get any hits. I went through May and June and felt pretty good and kind of caught up a little bit, but in July, I went back to the same. This is worse than a roller coaster, because you only go down for a bit and then you come back up. I've been down for a while."
Brian McTaggart is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
