Jake Peavy will skip his between-starts throwing session this week to rest his shoulder, but the Padres' ace right-hander expects to pitch as scheduled Sunday against St. Louis.
Peavy said yesterday he felt discomfort in the shoulder before his last three starts, but this is the first time he decided not to throw off a mound between outings. In two of those three starts he pitched very well, striking out 13 Milwaukee hitters two weeks ago and then getting a franchise-record 16 strikeouts Monday against Atlanta.
“I don't think (it's) a concern for me not being able to pitch,” Peavy said. “Any time you feel any discomfort it's not a good feeling, but .
. . like Boch (manager Bruce Bochy) said, you have this kind of stuff come up all year and I was able to compete and perform at the highest level that I'm capable.”
Todd Hutcheson, the Padres' trainer, said Peavy's symptoms are “indicative of tendinitis” because after a few throws “everything loosens up, and once the tendon warms up he doesn't have any more pain.” Hutcheson said Peavy was pain-free during Monday's game.
Peavy doesn't expect missing his throwing session to have any effect on his performance Sunday.
“We're going to continue to get treatment on it and try to work through it,” said Peavy, 3-5 with a 3.64 ERA. “We've just got to continue to monitor it and stay on top of it. We can't let it get any worse.”
Setback for Estes
Bochy said recently if everything went well with Shawn Estes in his rehab from an elbow injury, the left-hander could return to the Padres on June 16. But everything has not gone well.
Estes recently felt pain in the elbow while throwing in the bullpen, and an MRI exam taken Tuesday showed increased looseness in the ulnar collateral ligament, Hutcheson said.
“He has to get pain-free before he starts throwing and we don't have a time frame on that,” said Hutcheson, adding that he expects Estes to seek at least one additional medical opinion.
Rough infield?
After his error Tuesday, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones compared the Petco Park infield to a parking lot. But the Padres, who play half their games here, have no such complaints.
“This is one of the best infields in the league,” said third baseman Vinny Castilla, who made his first error at Petco last night. “That was a tough play; he was in between hops.”
Notes
Peavy said he couldn't remember striking out 16 in a game at any level, including high school. The only other Padre to strike out that many batters in one game was Kevin Brown in the 1998 NL Division Series. “That's pretty awesome to do that in a postseason game,” Peavy said. “That's as big-time as big-time gets.”
Catcher Rob Bowen, who suffered a sprained left thumb May 11, will go to Lake Elsinore tomorrow for a brief rehabilitation assignment. The Padres are expected to activate him before Sunday's game.
When Padres pitching prospect Cesar Carrillo debuts with Triple-A Portland, he will have gone at least nine days since his last Double-A start. Portland's rotation is being kept in order through at least Saturday. Thus, as a result of last Friday's promotion, Carrillo will get at least five days of extra rest between starts.
Jay Posner: (619) 293-1834; jay.posner@uniontrib.com
