Field goes on DL with torn muscle; out for season
KANSAS CITY -- Royals right-hander Nate Field isn't sure how he got a tear in his left oblique muscle, but this is fairly certain: He's out for the rest of the season.

"It's going to be tough for him to come back. He's got a three-centimeter tear and that's a pretty good tear," general manager Allard Baird said, "so it's doubtful."

Field was pitching against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 10, giving up two runs in one inning, when the injury in his lower left rib cage occurred.

"I didn't feel it out there," he said. "There wasn't a particular pitch that I felt it on. It just kind of set in afterward. The next day I could hardly get out of bed."

Field immediately was sent from Chicago to Kansas City when the tear was found. Time of recovery is roughly six weeks and, by then, the season will be just about over.

"We haven't been able to compare it to [Jeremy] Affeldt yet, but look how long it took him," Field said.

Affeldt, who had a strained right oblique, has been out seven weeks and is still in the rehabilitation process with Triple-A Omaha.

He was scheduled to pitch Tuesday night and, if that went well, he would pitch again Wednesday night for his first back-to-back outings. Good results would, of course, hasten his return to the bullpen as the closer.

"It's very important," Baird said. "It really is."

Field had been one of the top fill-ins for Baird as manager Tony Pena went with a closer-by-committee approach.

Field had three saves, a 2-3 record and a 4.26 ERA in 43 games.