Relief pitcher Chad Soden was faced with a dilemma when he found out he was being promoted to Lancaster from the Mariners' Midwest league affiliate, Wisconsin.
By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
LANCASTER - It was Black Wednesday at The Hangar.
Shane Monahan and Shawn Bunher both found out they have injuries that may prevent them from playing again this season.
Lancaster manager Dave Brundage was left with only 11 position players Wednesday. The JetHawks already have four players on the disabled list, including pitchers Chris Beck, Jeff Pearce and Tom Szimanski.
Brundage said he's never been part of a team with so many injuries.
"It's kind of a strange year," Brundage said. "(The injury bug) just keeps on going."
Preliminary X-rays show that Monahan has a fracture in his right wrist. Monahan said he injured the wrist last week against Lake Elsinore.
JetHawks trainer Rob Nodine said Monahan will probably miss four to six weeks, maybe longer.
"I'm heartbroken," Monahan said Wednesday afternoon. "The next 40 games, I have to sit around. I've gone through about a thousand emotions since noon. It's the first bad break I've had in a long time."
Monahan said he "broke (his right wrist) in half" about 10 years ago, had reconstructive surgery, and returned to play football in a month.
He missed one game in three years at Clemson University - and that wasn't because of injury.
"I'm optimistic," he said. "I'm not looking at it as a six-week deal. I want to play."
Monahan has been the hottest JetHawk offensively. He had two hits and drove in five runs Tuesday night with his 12th homer and 11th triple.
A 16-game hitting streak pushed his average up to .297 and he leads the California League in hits, with 122.
"This is kind of disappointing," he said. "I worked my butt off the last couple of weeks to get to .300, that was my goal."
Buhner's injury - a broken left foot - also will keep him out a minimum of a month and maybe longer.
Buhner is hitting .223 with three homers and 19 RBI. He said he's frustrated because he was hitting better in the second half.
"That's all I needed to go along with my 188 (at-bats): a broken foot," Buhner said. "Hopefully it will only take a month instead of six weeks. This is the first broken bone in my life."
Previously, Buhner's most serious physical problem was when he was at Lewis & Clark College in 1993, when he had surgery on his knee for a bone chip.
Pack your bags
Relief pitcher Chad Soden was faced with a dilemma when he found out he was being promoted to Lancaster from the Mariners' Midwest league affiliate, Wisconsin.
Soden was in Grand Rapids, Mich., with the Timber Rattlers on a road trip. He caught a 7 a.m. flight from there to the West Coast the next day.
"I don't have but six days' worth of clothes," he said Monday, adding that the rest of his belongings will be shipped from Appleton to Lancaster.
Tonight's game
RHP Ken Cloude (11-2, 3.76) rides a nine-game winning streak into tonight's 7:15 p.m. game against High Desert's RHP Hut Smith (2-2, 3.34) at The Hangar.