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Injuries Add Insult To Vina's Difficult Season
By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel Staff
June 21, 1999
San Francisco - Fernando Vina returned to the scene of the crime Monday.
It was at 3Com Park on May 9 that Vina collided with rightfielder Jeromy Burnitz chasing a pop fly off the bat of San Francisco's F.P. Santangelo in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Vina's season has been a mess ever since.
"It's been very frustrating," said Vina, who suffered a severely bruised left thigh upon making direct impact with Burnitz's knee.
Vina, who took time off from his rehabilitation program in nearby Sacramento to visit teammates before their series opener against the Giants, is on the disabled list for the second time since suffering the injury. He originally hoped to be back in the lineup by now but isn't close to returning to action.
"I'm hoping I'll be back in a couple of weeks but it might not be until after the all-star break," said Vina, an all-star second baseman in 1998. "It's still some swelling in there."
If he had it all to do over again, Vina would not have rushed back from the 15-day disabled list the first time. He tried to play for a week, but the leg never came around and he eventually was forced back onto the disabled list.
"I'm hard-headed and I wanted to play," he said. "I thought I could play through it and the pain would go away. But it never did; it just got worse."
Vina may have felt some pressure to return to the lineup as soon as possible because of the stellar play of Ron Belliard. The rookie second baseman was summoned from Class AAA Louisville when Vina went on the disabled list and quickly lived up to his billing as the organization's top prospect.
Belliard continues to play well (.298 batting average entering play Monday night), but it has been a case of out of sight, out of mind for Vina, who is under the medical supervision of former Olympic skating champion Eric Heiden. Manager Phil Garner insists, however, that Vina has not lost his job.
"Don't forget, Fernando was our all-star last year," Garner said. "He's still our second baseman, when he's healthy."
At the same time, Garner did not try to conceal his delight in the play of Belliard.
"Belliard's done what you like to see a kid do," he said. "He's gotten an opportunity to strut his stuff in the big leagues. He has proved our organization right by coming up and showing he can play in the big leagues."
For Vina, though, it has been a disjointed year in which he merely seeks to salvage something positive to take home for the winter. "It's frustrating. I want to be a part of this," he said. "When you're not part of the team and fighting out there, it's an empty feeling.
"When I come back, I'm going to be strong and ready to go. I don't want any more setbacks. I need to be smart now and let this thing recover and not mess around.
"I want to play like I'm capable of playing."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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