Concern Over Randy Wolf And Chad Billingsley

An injury to Randy Wolf? It's the last thing the Dodgers need.

Randy Wolf, who is tied for the Major League lead with 30 starts, has been scratched from his scheduled start Friday night in San Francisco because of stiffness in the back of his left elbow.

But during a bullpen session before Tuesday night's game in Arizona, Wolf felt stiffness and tried to compensate by changing his mechanics, at which point the decision was made to send him to Los Angeles for an exam.

Dr. Neal ElAttrache administered a cortisone injection Wednesday to calm "irritation," according to trainer Stan Conte. The discomfort is not in the area of the Tommy John operation Wolf underwent in 2005.

"It was a little tight, not a lot of pain," Conte said. "It doesn't seem really serious."

Manager Joe Torre said he was optimistic that Wolf -- a free agent after this season -- would miss only one start.

"The report I got is that he felt much better after the injection," Torre said. "We're concerned, no question. But the report we got back, it doesn't seem like it will be long term. Maybe a start."

I hope it's minor, but with Wolf, i'm never really comfortable with any report about his arm health. His history is long.

The same article also addresses the health of Chad Billingsley.

Torre and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt held a "long" meeting Wednesday with Billingsley, whose fastball velocity was down Tuesday night. Billingsley made an adjustment after several innings and was most successful throwing breaking balls.

"He's fine," Torre said. "We talked for a long time to make sure nothing was bothering him physically. Right now, he just needs a good outing."

Torre said he believes Billingsley's drop in velocity is the result of "trying to be too careful" and not injury. He said he admires a player who wants to fight through an injury, but not at the expense of the club.

"The guilt trip I drop on them, it's admirable to pitch hurt, but if you can't do what you normally do, it's hurting the team," he said. "I did that with Roger Clemens in the 2001 postseason."

The fact that they're even addressing this makes me wonder about the health of his legs again. In my opinion, that's a much more worthy concern than monitoring his mental toughness or whatever.

On that note, why is Jon Garland not mentally weak as well? Last night, he looked like Billingsley has of late. Lots of baserunners, not many strikeouts, walking guys, and an overall mediocre performance.

Shouldn't he know better than to give up 2-4 runs? He's a veteran too, so he's supposed to have presense, right? Where are the calls for him to get tough? I wonder.