Guardado: Elbow is Coming Along

The author was making his nightly rounds on the internet, of course beginning with Jorge Cantu’s blog. The fact that it hasn't been updated for almost a year doesn't take away from the appeal. Take this comment from flynn_steve for example: "I was at the game in which you homered and had two doubles. Good job ! Next time you have two days off, you'll have to come ride one of my horses. I find that always clears my mind and totally relaxes me." The idea of Jorge riding horses with flynn_steve is the new image I'll use to calm myself down, like when Guardado comes into Reds' games in the late innings. Ride Jorge, ride.

Following that excellent segue the author found an interesting article from a couple of days ago on Major League players.com. It's written by the Reds' own Eddie Guardado and appears to have been edited by 100 chimps working around the clock. It's titled, "Why Can't I Get Any Outs?" The article itself deals with Eddie's return from offseason elbow surgery as well as his opinions regarding orange wigs and bow ties. It's clearly something that would be very interesting to everybody. Here are some highlights:

• "This is my 14th season so it took me a long time to get hurt, I guess. While the surgery kept me out for almost a year, some guys say you can come back even stronger than before."
• "But the worst part was watching my team lose and not being able to do anything about it. I wanted to get back fast, not only for myself but to try and help the team. We were really struggling for most of the season. Between being out and watching the team lose, this has been the most frustrating season of my career."
• "When I finally got activated, the butterflies started coming. I ran out of saliva."
• "My first outing on Aug. 9, I came in during a one-run game and gave up a run that tied the game. But I was glad just to be contributing again."
• "How long will I keep playing? My wife always asks me that question. I don't know. We'll see how things go. I do know I'm playing for one reason: to get a ring. Winning the World Series is the one goal that I have and maybe it can happen in the next couple seasons. I really want to retire with a World Series ring on my finger."

So, there you guys go. There weren't any stats in the article, which I think paint a pretty accurate picture of Everyday Eddie's season thus far [12.91 ERA, 14 H, 11ER in 7.2 IP], but I'd still give it an A- for heartwarmingness. There just aren't enough athlete-written articles on the internet. Guardado may be the worst pitcher in the majors, but he's one hell of a solid guy. He's happy just to be back out there on the mound contributing/killing the Reds every chance he gets. He's a competitor, a competitor with a diseased salivary gland. And those guys who said you'll come back stronger after the surgery, you can tell them right now, they are absolutely right.