SHEETS-FACED

Ben Sheets reached a significant milestone, but the way he reached it was all-too-typical of his career: in the throes of a painful injury.

Until last year, Sheets was below .500 (61-69) for his career with the Brew Crew, which made his former BARB employers (The Darwin Finches) more than a bit frustrated. Even worse, Sheets, has shown a real knack for injury:

• In 2005, an inner ear infection led Sheets to miss 30 games due to dizziness and altered balance.


• A torn latissimus dorsi muscle in his right shoulder occurred in late August 2005, ending his season.


• During the offseason, Sheets had back surgery to correct a herniated disc. There is no such thing as 'minor' back surgery, so at this point observers began to wonder about the long-term prospects of the (then) 27-year-old Sheets.
  


• Sheets begin the 2006 on the DL due to a posterior shoulder strain, and landed back on the DL in May with tendinitis, and had to be babied much of the rest of the year. After collecting 11 complete games in his first five seasons with Milwaukee, Sheets failed to go the distance even once in the 2006 campaign.

• Sheets tore a tendon in his right middle finger in 2007; he was sent to the DL in July and missed a course of 40 games. He came back for a few starts, but then a hamstring strain wiped out the last two weeks of the season.
  

So, it was no surprise that he injured himself last night swinging the bat. Fouling off a Jake Peavy slider left Sheets with no feeling in his fingers for several minutes, and it was beginning to look like he might have to come out of the game since he couldn't get his curve over for strikes. But the ump showed discretion and gave Sheets a little extra time warming up and Big Ben not only got his feeling back, he went on to pitch a complete-game shutout....which was also a milestone 13th win of the season. Being injury-prone and playing for the Brewers has cost Sheets in the win column over the years. Since Frostbite Falls GM Andrew Haynes already knows all this and probably shudders any time some mentions Sheets and injury in the same sentence, all I can say is "Andrew, congratulations for catching lightning in a bottle!"

Darwin, which stuck with Sheets through three injury-haunted campaigns, can only wonder 'What if?' Now, please excuse me while I get three Sheets to the wind.