Tom Glavine needs surgery to repair his torn flexor tendon in his elbow, but does NOT need ligament transplant surgery. The recovery time for the tendon surgery is 4-5 months and this would at least give Tom a chance to pitch next season, if he wants to and if the Braves are open to the idea.

Here’s a quote from the article:

“Happy about the diagnosis,” Tom Glavine said in a text message to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Still not sure about next year but this will give me a chance.”

And Here is the full article.

I gotta say. I never thought I’d have my eyes get misty with tears of joy upon reading “flexor tendon surgery” but, that was the case today as I refreshed the AJC Braves blog and saw Carroll Roger’s comment there (and then later her article on AJC.com). Thank you God for not making it be the ligament. I know there is still a very real chance that Tom will not pitch next year but, at least there’s a chance. There’s hope! I can float on the hope for a while…

Tom Glavine has an appointment with Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday in Birmingham regarding his elbow. If it’s the flexor tendon, he’ll opt for surgery (3-4 months recovery) and consider pitching next season. If it happens to be the ligament (12-16 months recovery), he would not have ligament surgery. He’d retire.

Here’s an article from the AJC about it: Glavine Elbow

So….basically, let’s hope that it’s the flexor tendon, which is what they’ve been thinking all along. At least that would give him the option to pitch next season, provided he still wanted to and provided the Braves would want to resign him. A lot of question marks with all of that, but at least the possibility is there.

I feel sick. I’ve never experienced a season like this before. Never had to deal with Tom on the DL in all the years I’ve followed him and this year rolls around and he’s on DL stint No. 3 and is facing season-ending surgery and you are just left hoping the whole thing doesn’t end up being career-ending.

Crazy year. It’s upsetting. Hey, I’ve been a huge fan of his for …what 17 or 18 years? That’s a long time. Of course it hurts. It hurts bad. Fingers crossed for 2009.

From AJC.com:

Tom Glavine’s comeback bid took an abrupt turn when the 42-year-old left-hander went back on the disabled list Friday with recurring soreness in his problematic pitching elbow.

The move came less than 24 hours after Glavine came off the DL to start Thursday night against the Cubs. He lasted only four innings and was charged with four runs, seven hits and four walks.

Glavine wasn’t immediately available for comment after the announcement Friday. Manager Bobby Cox said Glavine was sore “a little bit” after Thursday’s game, and that the decision to place him on the DL was made Friday.

The Braves purchased the contract of right-hander Matt DeSalvo from Richmond to provide depth for a fatigued bullpen. DeSalvo will not start for Atlanta, Cox said. DeSalvo was 2-11 with a 4.60 ERA in 32 games (sevens starts) for Richmond.

It’s unclear whether Glavine will be able to continue pitching this season, or whether he might require surgery. He was diagnosed with a partially torn flexor tendon near the elbow and spent two months on the DL before coming back Thursday after two minor-league rehab starts.

Totally heartbroken. This absolutely sucks.

Note: I deleted the curse word I originally had in this blog, as I got an e-mail from someone who had a problem with it. My sincere apologies to anyone I offended with that word. I don’t get much feedback at all on this web site, and certainly not on the blog, so sometimes I forget people actually go to it and I should watch the language. I really am sorry.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go kick myself.

Tom Glavine made his return from the disabled list tonight, pitching against the Chicago Cubs. It was so good to see him back on the mound for the Braves. It’s been two months since I’ve seen him pitch. Two long, boring, months. :) But he’s back now and I was very happy to see him on the mound.

Unfortunately, he only lasted four innings and he gave up seven runs. Ouch. He got into a jam in the first inning, giving up two runs, but got a bases-loaded double play to get out of it. He pitched a scoreless second, but then gave up a 3-run homer in the 3rd (Ramirez) and a 2-run homer in the 4th (Soriano).

Hopefully, despite the results, he felt good out there and didn’t experience any pain or problems with his elbow. That’s the important thing. And maybe he can get better results his next outing (which I believe will be against the Mets … In New York. I better prepare the mute button so I don’t have to hear the deafening boos. LOL jk)

I just want him healthy the rest of the season, to make all his starts, have fun, have success and maybe he’ll pitch again next year.

Meanwhile, Mark Kotsay hitting for the cycle. Awesome! I like him; he seems like a good guy.

Tom Glavine made a rehab assignment with the Mississippi Braves tonight. He went 5 innings, giving up 4 hits and 3 runs (2 earned), walking 1 and striking out 1. He had one at bat - a strikeout. To view complete inning-by-inning results, view the Game Log HERE.

It was fun getting to listen to him pitch once again, via the game audio on milb.com. Not as much fun as it would have been to SEE him pitch in Arizona, mind you. (No, I’m not bitter).

Actually, if I’m being honest, it probably worked out for the best. We got our dog, Clank, neutered on Monday and we noticed a red spot near the incision. Took him back to the vet Friday and the vet said it’s fine - just put neosporin on it - but IS slightly infected so we have to make sure he doesn’t lick at it. They gave us one of those collar things that look like a lampshade to make him wear. We put it on him and … he was just utterly depressed. He just sat there. He barely moved. He looked so incredibly sad. He wouldn’t even eat the milkbone I brought over to him. And this dog? LOVES to eat. He eats his food before it hits the bottom of the bowl. He wouldn’t even come in the same room with us and he follows us everywhere.

It made me feel absolutely horrible so we took it off of him and are just watching him REALLY closely. So…with that in mind, there would have been no way we could have left him for 3-4 hours alone to go to a baseball game. So maybe it worked out that Glavine isn’t pitching in the AZ series.