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Brandon Belt hit by pitch, breaks thumb

The Giants will be without their first baseman for too danged long.

Scott Cunningham

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 ...