Am I the only one who went into his garage yesterday, and tried to see what it was like to try and grip a baseball bat without being able to bend my left ring finger?  That was just me?  I mean, it wasn't that weird.  I did it in the privacy of my own home, and had my morning coffee, so I wasn't in some kind of just-woke-up stupor. 

Judging from my little experience, I figured it might be a while before we saw Gary Sheffield back in the lineup for the Detroit Tigers, though the team decided not to put him on the disabled list.  However, I also assumed that the tendon that Sheffield tore was lower on his finger, toward the base of his hand.  Not so fast, my friend.  It turns out that the injury occurred near the tip of that left ring finger.  And as Dr. Sheffield so eloquently put it:

"You don't need the tip of your finger to hit.''

There is still swelling in the finger, which might keep him out for the next couple of games, but Sheffield has been fitted with a splint that will allow him to grip a bat once that inflammation goes down.  (Pro athletes get all the cool stuff!)  Could that be today?  We'll have to wait and see.