Matt Lindstrom still hurting

Matt Lindstrom's back problems haven't eased, but there appears to be no major damage .

Right-hander Matt Lindstrom's back is acting up again, but an MRI on Thursday ruled out any serious injury.

There's still a chance he could end up on the disabled list if the discomfort persists. "Hopefully it'll be better by (today),'' the reliever said. "We'll just take it day by day.''

In order to get back to playing form Matt is going use every high-tech option available to him .

"I think we're just going to keep treating it to see how it goes,'' he said. ``We'll just take it day by day.''

Last season, Lindstrom also experienced back pain, which he alleviated by sleeping on a hard floor.

''I might have to go back to the floor again,'' he said. ``I'll try whatever.''

Hey, if it works or at least you think it works, give it a go.

The problem brewing with the Lindstrom, Willingham and Jacobs injuries is that Fredi is now having to manage a short-handed bench and bullpen.  And if they persist, someone is going on the DL, probably retroactive, but a 22 man team causes a disadvantage.  One of the main disadvantages being that the catcher not starting the game can't be used in that day's game unless he is needed to replace the starting catcher.

The two possible candidates for emergency catcher, should it come to that, are injured, and therefore Fredi can't take the chance to use the non-starter for anything but insurance.

So the team becomes basically 21 men each game while Willingham, Jacobs and Lindstrom are recovering.  They have a few days to get better or someone is DL bound.  Hopefully Josh and/or Jake will return tonight.