Because you will need a lot of it. The fact that there are no reports of MRIs or other legitimate medical procedures being used over the weekend on Gil Meche's arm, back, and shoulder is very worrying. The fact that Gil Meche didn't even throw off of the mound on Monday is worrying. I don't know about you, but if I have a $11M per year investment, I'm not going to allow for that investment to place himself at risk of injury.

But if there is anything this organization does with flying colors lately, it's watch as small injuries turn into big injuries. Coco Crisp going from having shoulder problems to tearing his labrum. Mike Aviles going from a forearm problem to possibly worse.

The only way blame is evaded is if it cannot be placed. Is the blame to be put on a training staff which doesn't know how to spot injuries? Is the blame to be put on a manager or general manager who place a heavy emphasis on playing through pain?

The example of Tony Pena Jr came up tonight. The praise heaped on Pena Jr for going to bat with a broken hand and playing the field. When any organization with a functioning brain would tell the player with a broken hand to go to the locker room for the day. With examples of idiotic bravado like that, what kind of injured player would tell the organization to let them have time off to recover?

If anything short of a miracle healing occurs, Gil Meche will leave tomorrow an injured pitcher. But he also enters the game an injured pitcher. Let me go back over a timeline for those of you just tuning in.

Gil Meche left a game on April 28th with back stiffness. He noted these problems have occured since January. Meche soldiers on to start on May 3rd, throwing 116 pitches, less than a week after having back stiffness. Meche throws 120 pitches on May 8th. By his own accounts, he continues to suffer from back pain until late in May, when he changes his pitching routine. And then finds that his back pain is gone. Then several weeks later after pitching three 100+ games in a row, Gil Meche felt problems with his arm.

The only faint hope of a meaningful Royals season goes completely down the tubes if Gil Meche's next start is worse than the one before it or if Gil Meche's next start is the straw that breaks the back in regards to his health. It is the difference between a summer of 1 great starter, 1 good starter, 2 young guys, and a spare piece, and a summer where Sidney Ponson and Bruce Chen make up 2/5ths of the rotation.

There are only so many times that injuries like Crisp, Aviles, and Meche occur before it is completely smart to evaluate the mentality of an organization which places playing hurt above stopping small injuries before they become big injuries. When your media-proclaimed #1 starter is going into a start busted up with no MRIs or anything short of his own word, then what does that tell the rest of baseball? that we suck but we won't give in to injury until the pain is too much for medication? What does it tell baseball superstars? Come to Kansas City and have your career shortened by our insistence that you ignore the pain in your shoulder?

So without any extra knowledge of what is causing the back pain, or extra knowledge about the arm and shoulder pain, or any sort of extra rest aside from not throwing off of the mound. Gil Meche will go into his biggest and riskiest mission on July 1st. Backed by the loyal legions who insist that he's good after being worked hard, despite the current injury problems and his workload being just as heavy while hurt as it is while healthy. He is backed by the fratnerity of warriors who'd rather play and suck while hurt than heal. He is backed by previous Royals who have experienced the desire to keep pressing on despite all logic.

His corner includes the defiant push forward from Mike Aviles, battling arm problems that may cost him his season and unravel his major league career. His corner includes the defiant stare of Runelvys Hernandez, who kept pitching in 2003 while hurt until the time that they demoted him and he got an actual medical exam. His corner includes the determined turbine energy of Jose Lima, who pitched several innings despite being obviously injured against the Devil Rays in 2003. The fratnerity of those who allow the bat or ball to be taken from their hands is not a fratnerity of famous faces, it is a fratnerity of grit. It is a brotherhood built on the idea that you never leave and that chicks dig elbow scars.

In the future, when Gil Meche is relaxing on a boat, when Dayton Moore is enjoying his rebound job, when Trey Hillman is pushing towards a PCL title, and when Tony Pena Jr is hittin 20 HRs a year in Mexico.. they will look to these days of defiance. When logic was flipped the bird, rationality and sense were given the cold shoulder, and when men were real men.

Gil Meche, we wish you the best. But we wish you'd get a real serious medical exam of your arm, shoulder, and back. You're getting paid $11M a year, you and the team can afford it. It's better to check these things too early, than too late. It's better to be out as long as a Soria, if you are hurt, than to be out for the rest of the year, or longer like a Coco Crisp or Mike Aviles. Get an intelligent doctor's opinion while you still have time, Gil.