Brandon Belt hit by pitch, breaks thumb

In the top of the second inning of Friday night's game, Brandon Belt was hit on the hand with a Paul Maholm fastball. Though Belt stayed in the game to run the bases, he eventually left for x-rays. The diagnosis: a broken left thumb.

Dammit.

I'm no doctor, but I do know how to google "broken thumb baseball," and it looks like the injury could take anywhere from a month (based on Ryan Zimmerman's recent injury) to much, much longer (based on a 2000 Pudge Rodriguez injury). Every thumb is different. Every fracture is a unique snowflake of horrible, horrible pain.

Belt was off to a hot start with the dingers, a less-than-hot start with the other stuff, but the Giants are clearly better with him in the lineup. The options now include a whole lot more Hector Sanchez, Michael Morse at first, Pablo Sandoval at first with Joaquin Arias at third, or something even more horrifying/creative. 

It's weird. For all the struggles and successes and triumphs Belt has had over the years, I never once thought about him getting hurt. I can't explain it, but I never thought about him coming down with a hamstring problem or turf toe. Maybe because he never had anything like that going on. 

Hope he's caught up on his milk and that he'll be back in a month. The Giants aren't really set up for anything like this. 

Maybe Gary Brown can play first ...