Ryan Vogelsong hit by pitch, fractures hand

Ryan Vogelsong was having his best start of the year, dang it. There's no good reason why that should make this worse -- as if another bad start would have made us say, "Smell you later and thanks for Detroit!" -- but it does make it worse. Vogelsong was having his best start, and now he's broken.

Vogelsong is out indefinitely with a fractured right hand, which he broke swinging on a fastball that tailed in on him. When hitters get hit on the hand by a pitch, you'll usually see the trainer out there for a few minutes and the hitter give the hand the ol' squeeze test for a while. Dave Groeschner was on the field for about 30 seconds before he took Vogelsong back in the clubhouse. That's right about when optimism went out for a pack of smokes and never came back.

Mike Krukow said about six weeks on the broadcast, and while that was an educated guess, it jibes with the other fractured hands I could rustle up.

It felt like Vogelsong was back, dang it. I know it was just one game, but it felt like he was the old new old Vogelsong again for the first time this season. But it's either Chad Gaudin or Mike Kickham time for the next month-and-a-half, with an outside chance of Chris Heston. Kickham isn't on the 40-man roster, though it shouldn't be too difficult to clear some room. There's time to figure that out. Tonight's reserved for saying things like "Dammit, Vogelsong."

Update: two fractures, dislocated pinky, surgery, and six weeks. Dammit.