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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Rehab isn’t hardest part for Moylan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
His absence has been largely overshadowed by the injuries to John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Tim Hudson and Rafael Soriano. But the Braves know how big a blow it was when Peter Moylan was lost just two weeks into the season.
The gregarious Aussie right-hander was the Braves’ best, most consistent reliever in 2007, and they were counting on him to be their top setup man and backup closer this season.
But he made only seven appearances before the elbow that started barking during spring training began to really throb. Moylan’s last appearance was April 11, and he tried rehab and rest before succumbing to the inevitable Tommy John surgery on May 8.
Braves fans will be pleased to know that Moylan began throwing last week and sounds like he can hardly wait to get to spring training, even though he’s not expected back on the roster until late April or early May.
“I feel amazing,” said the heavily tattoed dude with the great sense of humor and the nasty sinker. “It’s just everything I’ve been doing. I feel strong. I’ve never been a guy to do shoulder exercises before this happened. I’m doing them every other day.”
Moylan was to travel with Smoltz to see Dr. James Andrews today in Birmingham, both of them headed up to see the ridiculously busy doc for scheduled follow-up exams. Smoltz said his own shoulder-surgery rehab has been more grueling than any of his four elbow surgery rehabs, including TJ surgery, but that he’s ahead of schedule and feels terrific.
But we reported all that yesterday. It’s posted on our website, if you missed it.
Today I just wanted to include in the blog an update on Moylan, who proudly displays his TJ surgery scar and how Andrews managed to not deface any of the tattoos on his Moylan’s almost completely tat-covered right arm.
“I can see my shoulder getting stronger, feel it getting stronger. When I get back out there, it’s going to be incredible, because I’ll have a rebuilt elbow and a stronger shoulder, and I’m going to be fit because I’ve had nothing else to do.”
Moylan also has had Lasik surgery and had his hair buzzed in recent months, after it became too difficult to continue to conceal the thinning spot up top. “I did a pretty good job covering it up, though, didn’t I?” he said, laughing.
He’s more muscular in the upper body, and with the military-style haircut and no glasses to soften the look, he’s a pretty severe looking character these days. “The extreme makeover is almost complete,” he said, smiling.
With that accent and the ever-present smile, the image is still that of Mr. Amiable, one of the more popular characters in the clubhouse.
But there’s another side to Moylan, like so many others in the public eye. These guys probably seem like they’ve got it made to most of us middle-class folks, and in many respects they do have incredibly enviable lives.
However, often it comes with a high price, and we’re talking something way beyond the hard work they put in to refine their natural talent and get where they are.
I’m talking personal lives. As any of you know who travel a lot, it ain’t easy keeping together a relationship when you spend so much time away from home. Little things can fester and become big issues when you’re not there to has it out and talk it over with your spouse at the end of the day.
Divorce rates are extremely high for those whose work keeps them away from home. So one can only imagine what it must be like for a guy whose family is halfway around the world, in Australia.
Moylan and his wife filed for divorce shortly after last season ended. She had stayed back in Australia to have their second baby during the 2007 season.
It takes a year for divorces to be finalized in Australia, so the Moylans’ split won’t become official until next month. And then comes the really brutal part for him, personally.
The kids. He has two daughters, Montana, who’ll be 8 next month, and Matisse, who is 1. Moylan’s always upbeat, always cracking jokes, even before and immediately after his surgery.
But his mood changes when discussing his children, and how much he’s going to miss them.
“I saw the girls when I went back for two weeks recently,” he said.
They’re in Australia with their mother, and his daughters’ names are tattooed on his arms, one on each arm, the most prominent of all his tattoos.
“That’ll be the tough part,” he said of not seeing them this winter, other than for two weeks around Christmas. The rest of the time, Moylan will be in Atlanta, continuing his rehab with a Braves trainer at Turner Field.
Moylan says this quietly, barely able to smile at all. Frankly, it’s hard to hear, and I can only imagine how difficult it must be for him to discuss it and think about it.
I’m guessing he’s going to be lonelier than he’s ever been in his life this winter, when baseball season is over and there are fewer distractions to keep him from thinking constantly about his daughters half a world away.
“That’s the killer, staying here for the offseason,” he said. “But I’ve got the resources I need here to continue rehabbing and getting ready.”
Still, that’s not going to make it any easier when he sees his daughters’ names on his arms, when he looks at their pictures.
It’s a glamorous and enviable life they lead. No doubt about that. But that doesn’t mean parts of it aren’t hell.
Diversions:Listened to two great albums from recent years this morning before I filed ‘em away on the alphabetized wall of CDs I have, Sonic Youth’s Rather Ripped and Razorlight’s debut Up All Night. Now working to Waylon Jennings’ Dreaming My Dreams with live “Bob Wills Is Still the King” on it.
OK, here’s a tune to end this edition of the Braves/MIB thing. I really love Todd Snider’s cover of this song on Snider’s East Nashville Skyline album.
”ALCOHOL AND PILLS” by Fred Eaglesmith
Hank Williams, he came up from Montgomery
With a heart full of hard-luck country songs
But Nashville, Tennessee, they didn’t understand him because he did things
Differently than the way they were done
But when he finally made it to the Grand Ole Opry, he made it stand still.
He ended up on alcohol and pills
Elvis Presley, he came up from Jackson
With a brand new way of singing
A brand new way of dancing
And even from the waist up, he gave the world a thrill
He ended up on alcohol and pills
Alcohol and pills
It’s a crying shame
You’d think they might have been happy
With the glory and the fame
The fame don’t take away the pain
It just pays the bills
And you wind up on alcohol and pills
Janis Joplin, she was a wild and reckless
Then there was Gram Parsons, then there was Jimmy Hendrix.
The story just goes on and on.
I guess it always will.
They ended up on alcohol and pills
Alcohol and pills
It’s a crying shame
You’d think they might have been happy
With the glory and the fame
The fame don’t take away the pain
It just pays the bills
And you wind up on alcohol and pills
Sometimes somebody won’t wake up one day
Sometimes it’s a heart attack
Sometimes, they won’t say
When they pulled poor old Hank Williams
Out of that Cadillac Coupe de Ville
He ended up on alcohol and pills
Alcohol and pills
It’s a crying shame
You’d think they might have been happy
With the glory and the fame
The fame don’t take away
It just pays the bills
And you wind up on alcohol and pills
… on alcohol and pills
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