CHICAGO — Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson returned to Atlanta on Thursday to have another checkup and MRI on his troublesome right shoulder.
He was diagnosed with tendinitis after an MRI on Aug. 9 showed no structural damage in the shoulder, the second MRI and tendinitis diagnosis in that shoulder this season for Hanson. He had a stint on the disabled list and a cortisone shot for the same ailment in June.
When asked Thursday (before the MRI) if the Braves were worried, manager Fredi Gonzalez said no, that team trainers still believed it was only tendinitis.
“They think maybe we haven’t given it enough time, maybe he needs a little bit more rest,” Gonzalez said. “The test before showed nothing, just showed a little tendinitis. But sometimes you want something to happen quickly, and it takes a little longer.”
The Braves had planned for Hanson to make a minor-league rehab start Saturday, but that plan was scrapped after he had next-day soreness from a mere nine-pitch mound session Monday.
“He’s a competitor, and he wants to pitch,” Gonzalez said. “It just doesn’t feel right.”
Monday was the first time Hanson threw on a mound since Aug. 6, when he was rocked for a career-high four homers and seven runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Mets.
He has a 1-3 record with an 8.10 ERA and .313 opponents’ average in five starts since the All-Star break, after going 10-4 with a 2.44 ERA and .190 OA before the break.
Weather could impact series
When the Braves’ team charter flight took off Thursday night from Chicago, bound for New York, they still had not been notified of any schedule change for their weekend series against the Mets.
Hurricane Irene’s potential impact on the Northeast already had led Major League Baseball to announce that two scheduled Sunday games — Florida at Philadelphia and Oakland at Boston — would be moved to Saturday as part of day-night doubleheaders.
But the Braves-Mets series finale Sunday afternoon at Citi Field had not been rescheduled, and Gonzalez thought they might wait to make it up later, if necessary.
If the game is rained out — heavy rains and windy conditions are expected Sunday — then it could be made up Sept. 8, a mutual off day on the Braves’ and Mets’ schedules. The Braves have a three-game series Sept. 5-7 at Philadelphia and another three-gamer Sept. 9-11 at St. Louis.
Gonzalez said it would be easy for the Braves to change their itinerary and travel from Philadelphia to New York to play one game Sept. 8, then on to St. Louis.
It’s also possible the teams could agree to play the game the day after the regular season ends only if it has any impact on a playoff race. The Braves had a seemingly insurmountable nine-game lead over San Francisco in the National League wild-card race, pending the outcome of the Giants’ late game Thursday against Houston.
Shock over Flanagan suicide
The death of former Cy Young award winner Mike Flanagan, 59, shook one of his contemporaries, Hall of Fame pitcher and Braves broadcaster Don Sutton.
And when word spread that Flanagan had committed suicide, Sutton was stunned.
“I got to know him, competed against him,” said Sutton, 66. “I’m shocked anytime there’s a death in our baseball family. If indeed he did take his life, I’m doubly shocked.”
Flanagan died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head, the Maryland medical examiner ruled Thursday. His body was found Wednesday behind his home in Baltimore.
“He always seemed like kind of a dry-wit, quiet kind of guy,” Sutton said, “and he was very competitive.”
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