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A's Harden says he felt pressure to pitch with pain

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A's Harden says he felt pressure to pitch with pain 

Post#1 » by HMFFL » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:21 pm

Rich Harden said he is optimistic he can achieve his first injury-free season since 2004 but criticized the A's for their handling of his injuries in recent years.

"The whole year (last season) I've got people in the organization telling me I'm fine, that I've got to pitch with pain," Harden said after reporting to training camp Wednesday. "It's insulting, because they don't know what's going on."

Harden was intentionally unspecific with his finger-pointing. Asked who was applying this pressure, he said, "I've got a lot of stuff to say. I don't want to say it."

Harden, 31-18 with a 3.60 ERA during his career, was limited to 32 starts over the past three years because of injuries, and he had biceps tendinitis this winter.

Last season, the right-hander second-guessed a decision to have him pitch in relief as he tried to come back from a strained shoulder suffered in April.

Harden made three relief appearances in June but landed back on the disabled list because of the shoulder injury after lasting just 2 2/3 innings in a July 7 start. He said he partly went along with the idea to relieve in response to the perception within the organization that he wasn't tough enough to pitch through pain.

"That's what's frustrating - you get people in the organization questioning whether or not I can pitch with pain," he said. "That's what's hurt me in the past. I've gone out there (and pushed it too much)."

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Post#2 » by FNQ » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:55 pm

Great, a malcontent...

I'm sorry Rich, lots of people go through the same crap... of course they want you to pitch through it, you are a heavy investment the A's have. Get over it...

Regardless of what the injury is, you have earned the injury-prone label and the soft label... stay on the IL til you are healthy next time instead of keep coming back when you're not ready.
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Post#3 » by TSC25 » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:00 am

Well being a Pacers fan Im going through the same problems with Jermaine O'Neal and I'd rather see Rich set out a whole year like he did most of last season,so maybe this will be the year we as Athletics fans we get to see Rich for a whole season.

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