Brewers' Hart will try to play through foot injury
At this stage, Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Corey Hart has two choices:
1. Don't play.
2. Play in pain.
That's the situation Hart faces as he deals with a partially torn plantar fascia in his left foot. That type of injury can linger and be painful, and rest is the best medicine. But with three weeks remaining in the season and the Brewers trying to force their way into the thick of the National League wild-card race, there's no time for rest.
"I think I can tolerate it. It's not going to go away," said Hart, who is hoping a tape job and special orthotics will allow him to play at some point. "Obviously, I'm not going to be running very quick right now."
Hart, who exited the game Sunday in St. Louis in the fifth inning, sat out against Atlanta for the second consecutive night on Tuesday. With a scheduled off day Thursday, if Hart sits out Wednesday, the hope is that he will be available on Friday.
"It's hard right now," Hart said. "It'd be hard to run at all. Hopefully they can tape it tight enough to where I can pinch-hit right now. Fortunately we have two off days coming up. I'd love to play (Wednesday), but I don't know if they'd let me. It really depends on how good I can run.
"I think right now they just want to get all the initial swelling out. "That way I can get on the field and if I fully tear it, I fully tear it. I want to get out there as soon as I can. We're so close to the end, and where we're at right now, I'm going to try to play and if that makes it worse, that makes it worse.
"We have the offseason to recover."
There has been talk of injecting the area of the injury, but that is a painful procedure that wouldn't guarantee tearing it completely, so it is considered the last resort.
