Bondo Gets Boned

There was plenty of buzz in Tigerland as Jeremy Bonderman made his first start in over a year. A former back-to-back 14 game winner Bonderman would seem to be the finishing touch on what has been surprisingly (but not to the sporting nerd) one of the best pitching rotations in the majors. Unfortunately Bondo got rocked by the White Sox going 4 innings with 3 homers 6 ER on 8 hits with 1 strike out. Ouch!

Will we ever see some classic Bondo again? Its tough to say...Bonderman was deactivated last season because of thoracic outlet syndrome. THORACIC OUTLET SYNDROME!!! He had developed a clot in his axillary vein that grew so large he could feel it in his armpit. The likely cause in his case is something called effort vein thrombosis which is basically spontaneous clotting of the axillary veins after vigorous arm exertion. Once he was placed on the DL he reported that he couldn't feel his fingers when he released a pitch...WTF!?! I guess its no mystery why he had such a bad start last year. It just goes to show you the messed up things athletes will do to their bodies just to stay and compete. In any case Bondo's rehab is a bit of a mystery, his subtype of TOS (vascular/venous) is rarer than the form that MLB player Hank Blalock rehabbed from (neurologic). He's certainly got a long way to go...fastball topped out at 89 on Monday. For a guy that could comfortably throw a 96 mph heater that's a devastating decline. Bonderman will either have to find his old stuff or revamp his pitching strategy if he has any chance of pitching efficiently in the show.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."