:x Gagne to have surgery Friday By JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer April 6, 2006 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dodgers closer Eric Gagne will have surgery Friday to remove a nerve from his pitching elbow, his second arm operation in less than a year. Team spokesman Josh Rawitch said there was no timetable for the return of Gagne, who saved 152 games from 2002-04 and was a near-unanimous winner of the NL Cy Young Award in 2003. Rawitch said surgery on the 30-year-old right-hander will be performed by Dr. Frank Jobe and Dr. Ralph Gambardella of the team's medical staff at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles. It's the same nerve that was moved during an operation last June. "I'm very disappointed because I thought this would be behind us," Gagne said in a statement issued through the Dodgers. "It was a decision where I wanted to be 100 percent and be myself and enjoy it because I can't pitch with that kind of pain." Gagne had eight saves in as many chances in 14 games last season. He didn't pitch in the Dodgers' first three games this year, sitting out an 11-10 season-opening loss Monday to Atlanta in a game Los Angeles never led, and serving a two-game suspension after that.
That's a shame, that guy was great. Removing a nerve from his elbow doesn't sound good for his future.
:? I have to admit that I don't understand this modern surgery stuff. I had friends in high school who had their knees and elbows completely cleaned out and their careers ended in the era before arthroscopic surgery. On the other hand, Gagne has already had two Tommy-Johns and is now having a nerve scraped down because his fastball fell into the low 90's and was causing him some pain. Doctors described the surgery as barely a scratch, with the nerve ending just below the surface of the skin having to be moved. The Dodgers expect him back on the mound by June... .........DD