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Nationals notebook Date published: 3/25/2008
BY RICH CAMPBELL VIERA, Fla.-- Shawn Hill was pleased with how his ailing right forearm felt after pitching two innings in a minor league game yesterday, his first game action of the spring."The feeling I had, I expected it to be worse and it wasn't all that bad today," Hill said. "So I'm kind of encouraged by that." Hill threw 39 pitches (23 strikes) and gave up two runs, two hits, a walk and struck out two against a team of Los Angeles Dodgers' advanced Single-A players. He didn't care about stats, though. The condition of his arm was all that mattered. It mattered to manager Manny Acta, too. So much, in fact, that Acta skipped the start of Washington's 5-3 loss to Detroit to watch Hill pitch on an adjacent field. Hill, who has been plagued by various right-arm injuries throughout his eight-year professional career, had offseason surgery to repair a nerve problem in his right forearm. The discomfort resurfaced, however, early in spring training and prevented him from pitching in any games. He had a MRI and some nerve tests performed earlier this month during a visit to Duke University, and those revealed no structural damage. The team has already placed him on the 15-day disabled list to start the season. "When I'm throwing, at times it hurts like absolute hell," Hill said. "Whatever it is causing the pain, we don't know, but I'm not going to hurt myself by throwing. We're still trying to find out what might be wrong. But until we can find out, I might as well keep throwing because I'm not doing any damage. If I can tolerate the pain, I can continue to throw." Acta said the team will break camp with a four-man rotation, which means it is counting on Hill to make his scheduled start against Atlanta on April 13. "I can't be very confident," Acta said. "His track record speaks for itself. I hope he gets better and pitches for us, but it is what it is."
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