April Showers Bring Long and Frustrating Hours for Mike Hampton and the Braves

As Jon Sciambi and Joe Simpson came on the air on a wet and gloomy April night in Atlanta, the Braves and Pirates were set to battle in the last game of a 3-day set.  

It was to be Mike Hampton’s first appearance on a big league mound since 2005. If he could find a way to stay healthy, Atlanta would be sitting pretty in the National League East, with one of the most solid starting rotations in the majors.

However, this hope was lost as the screen in front of me showed a view from the bullpen.  Hampton was in pain with what would later would be diagnosed as a strained pectoral muscle.  I hate to say it, but I sat back and yawned.  

This was nothing new to many Braves fans.  We had seen it all with Mike Hampton. We saw Tommy John surgery in 2005, which kept him out of the 2006 season. We saw the torn oblique before the 2007 season and saw all the elbow troubles the rest of that year.  

We also saw the YouTube video of the strained hamstring in the Mexican league in November, which may have been the most heartbreaking moment of them all.  Until that fateful day in early April of this year.

None of this talk of another comeback attempt excites me. However, he has stayed optimistic, fighting for his baseball life. We know that we will be disappointed again.

Mike Hampton will go back on the DL, everyone will feel sorry for him, and he will start rehab again.

He just cannot manage to stay injury-free for one warmup much less a full season.  We need to stop hoping he is going to return.  Stop believing that he may finally be over those injury-prone days.

After a bullpen session in which he thought he threw well, manager Bobby Cox said, "He's a ways off."

I for one, am not holding my breath.