Walker likely to miss rest of road trip with concussion
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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Suffering from a headache and sleep deprivation due to hourly checks at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Neil Walker showed up this afternoon at the Pirates clubhouse after a couple of hours of sleep at the team hotel and declared himself fortunate and fine despite a mild concussion from a collision that knocked him unconscious.
"However long it was when I got hit until when the trainers came out, I was out cold," said Walker, who remembered everything up until, but not including, the run-in with Ryan Church's right knee while chasing a foul pop-up Friday night in a 14-4 Pirates loss. "I don't remember getting hit. I just remember their team doctors [from the Oakland Athletics] coming out.
"I really feel like if I didn't have a headache, I'd be feeling OK," he added. "Obviously, where I got hit hurts, otherwise I'm OK."
Walker, the Pine-Richland High product playing a stronger every-day second base than expected, will sit out the rest of this interleague weekend in Oakland and then return to Pittsburgh from Chicago late Monday morning. Manager John Russell said the club wants Walker to follow-up with team doctors.
Bobby Crosby was starting for Walker at second base last night after six consecutive starts at shortstop, where Ronny Cedeno returns tonight. Russell said he hasn't thought beyond this road trip that ends Wednesday in Chicago, but Aki Iwamura won't get recalled from Class AAA although Andy LaRoche might play second base in a few days.
"It's a sting," Russell said of losing Walker, who went 3 for 4 with a home run before the injury and is batting .295 with three homers and 12 RBI. "We'll miss him. Neil's obviously been doing a very good job. But you don't want to mess around with something like this."
Of LaRoche, who has been working at other infield positions since before Pedro Alvarez was recalled from the minors, Russell added: "He's getting close. We still need to do some more work. But I don't think he's too far away."
Walker had a battery of blood tests, a CT scan and hourly wake-ups for blood pressure and concussion exams, so mostly he was exhausted. He was discharged from the hospital around 11 a.m. Oakland time.
"I think it could have been a lot worse," Walker said of the collision, where the back of his head hit Church's right knee, snapping his head forward. "Fortunately, Church has soft knees. . . . There's nothing really that could have been done [to avoid it]. I didn't see him, I didn't hear him. As soon as I went for the ball, that's the last thing I remember. Then I blacked out. . . . It's not as bad as it could have been.
"First night ever in San Francisco turns into a nice baseball night for myself. Then . . ., to end up in the hospital , I don't think that's a good night at all."
First Published June 26, 2010 5:24 pm
