Oakland Athletics: Updates on Brett Anderson's Oblique Injury

Update: September 20th at 6:35 p.m. ET.

New surrounding Brett Anderson's injury just went from bad to worse, as Joe Stiglich of the Mercury News reports that the A's pitcher is out for the remainder of the season.

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Injured left-hander Brett Anderson will miss the rest of the regular season, A's manager Bob Melvin said following Thursday's 12-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

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Anderson's right oblique strain is obviously a setback that couldn't come at a worse time for the A's.

---End of Update---

The Oakland Athletics' magical run to the top of the American League wild-card standings took a hit on Wednesday as the team's most experienced starter, Brett Anderson, left the game due to an injury in the third inning while facing the Detroit Tigers. 

MLB.com's Jane Lee tweeted out the update. 

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#Athletics announce Anderson left the game with a right oblique strain.

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"— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) September 20, 2012"

Anderson appeared to lose his balance on his follow through and fell to his left, but it was not visibly apparent he was injured. However, the training staff came out and Anderson soon left the field.

Pat Neshek entered the game in relief with the bases loaded and allowed a sacrifice fly to Delmon Young, which pushed the Tigers lead to 3-0. 

There is no mention of a recovery timetable or the severity of the injury, but an oblique strain can be a nagging and lingering injury for a pitcher. 

As SFGate.com's Susan Slusser points out, oblique strains "typically, oblique strains take 10 days to several weeks of recovery time."

Anderson entered this game with five starts under his belt, going 4-1 and posting a 2.57 ERA. 

While this is a big blow to the team, the A's are no stranger to battling adversity, and they have gone through the majority of this season without Anderson's services—this was just his sixth start of the year—as he's been recovering from Tommy John surgery. 

This has to be supremely frustrating for Anderson, but if he can get back on the mound for the postseason, I imagine that both he and the team will be just fine with how things worked out.