It seems that Andrew Miller is experiencing some pain in his right knee .
Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said Miller was pulled after he appeared to wince after making a play at first base in the third inning. Miller has had minor right-knee pain through the years, and Gonzalez said they didn't want to risk anything. ''We didn't want to take a chance and send him back out there,'' Gonzalez said.
I can think of a lot reasons for not wanting to send him back out there -- one being, trying to win the game.
Mike Berardino reports that his knee problem isn't anything new .
Miller, in his postgame remarks with the media, didn't mention this until asked directly about his right knee. Turns out he's been diagnosed with tendinitis in the knee, which plagues him "off and on" and first started bothering him about a year ago. The Tigers gave him an MRI on the knee after last season and the Marlins and Tigers discussed the issue at length before completing the December trade for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. "It doesn't affect my pitching, I don't think," Miller said. "That's by no means an excuse for tonight." Still, Miller said catcher Mike Rabelo, who knows him well from their Detroit days, told Gonzalez and the Marlins training staff he believed the knee was bothering Miller on the mound.
Maybe it is the case that is right knee is causing some of his control problems, though I find it unlikely that it is the major cause since by all reports his control has been iffy for more than a season and one month. In 2006 when he was first called up to the majors he averaged about a walk an inning.
But it does beg the question: What the heck is he doing up in the majors? There is a place where players go to work through injuries -- it's called minor league rehab.
Aside: Fredi can say what he wants and read from the official team press release, and maybe it's best that he does, but Waecther was warming up long before Miller had to cover first base in the third.
If Miller is truly battling with tendinitis in the right knee, and I have no reason to believe he isn't, maybe, just maybe, he ought to be working through it in Carolina or Albuquerque. There has to be a healthier and more consistent option available.