WHIV 2002 Vol 5.- Rash of injuries strikes Hustler stars

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Previously, the Hustlers had lost closer Jonathan Salott for 2 months and had to scramble to replace him. Now, more injuries struck.

5/3/2002
Star rightfielder Benjamin Rivero suffered a sprained thumb and is expected to miss about a month. To fill his role, Jason Stucky was iniitially given all of Rivero's at-bats against righties, but proved once again to struggle with them. The Hustlers later will decide to go with defense, giving Douglas Howser some starts in right field until Rivero returns.

5/7/2002
Reserve C/1B Nicolas Kuffrey would miss two weeks with a knee contusion. He's expected back in about a week. To replace him, the Hustlers called up top prospect C Roark Dempsey, who is off to a slow start and will be returned to the minors as soon as Kuffrey comes back.

5/11/2002
Christopher "Trooper" Stoller, off to a Nebraska Award season, has a setback. Elbow inflammation results in him being put on the shelf for an estimated 2 months. This is going to be a tough one to overcome....it means that David Crocker must stay in the rotation all season, and it means that 28 year old rookie Martin Brown joins the rotation.

5/14/2002
We already lost our closer, our #3 hitter, and our #1 starter. Why not our cleanup hitter, too? 3B Jake Urban strained his hamstring and will miss a month. So, this means full time work for Brent Gates and a platoon gig for Silvio Garcia.

The Good News?
After all of this we're still 26-19, 2 games out of first in the Frick Pacific; but leading the Frick Wild Card race.

The Moral?
DEPTH is a good thing.