Crank that Jazz, Jeff is Back!

The summer of 2009 was spent watching ‘24.’  Former Rays pitcher John Switzer got me hooked.  It was just one of those things where I would arrive home after games and pop on an episode.  It would end and then you needed to watch another and another and another and then it’s 4am and you have to be at work in five hours.  I lived a half hour away so this meant about three hours of sleep on my air mattress.  Good times in ole Cheektowaga.  But you were never tired…it was more important to find out how Jack was going to find the terrorists and stop the world from blowing itself up.  You know he won’t die but it seems like he will – how will he get out of trouble, HOW?!?!?  That’s all that mattered.

Fast forward two years and ’24’ is gone.  Dexter is one of the new hit shows I’m told.  There are something like 12-15 episodes in a season.  So that’s about 11-14 hours of tape to watch.  There are five seasons so we do the math and carry the four and that’s 55 hours of video or more (hint: that’s more than two full days).  Marauders pitcher Jeff Inman knocked it all out in a week.

“You’ve got a lot of time to waste,” Inman said.  “I was just laying on my bed watching TV a lot.  Try to get out a little, go fishing or go see a movie but realistically it’s just a lot of down time.”

Thus is the life of a guy on injury rehab.  But most importantly he’s back healthy…and he’s and expert in Dexter.

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Jeff Inman took the Marauders by storm this spring.  The skinny kid with braces, who looks more like he should be asking for autographs than signing them, pitched in six Bradenton wins before going on the disabled list in May.  He had emerged as something of a front-of-the-rotation starter for Bradenton; a guy you could count on to give you a chance to win every night.  Inman even threw the first complete game in Marauders history at St. Lucie in April…granted, it was a rain shortened, five inning affair. 

Everything built up to a May 15th game against Clearwater.  Jarred Cosart, who would later be traded for Hunter Pence, faced off against Inman.  It was set to be a battle of top arms and it was, except Inman didn’t last to the third.  Cosart nearly threw a perfect game in a 1-0 win, opposed by Jhonathan Ramos, who threw the relief outing of his life, striking out MLB rehabber Chase Utley twice. 

Inman pitched two innings in the game and would later wind up on the disabled list.  The same elbow discomfort that cost Inman all of 2010 had reared its ugly head.

Jeff Inman is back with Bradenton after going on the DL May 15th

“To me it was the same injury,” Inman said.  “It wasn’t as bad as last year but I could tell it was coming back.  I don’t know where it comes from but it just hurts sometimes”

So to the disabled list for Inman, who spent three months rehabbing at Pirate City.

“First it’s just rest and then it’s just strengthening the shoulder muscles and the muscles around the elbow, trying to get everything strong,” Inman said.  “Once you do that you can start throwing again and pitching in games.”

“It’s been a reoccurring thing so they sent me to the GCL to rehab,” Inman continued.  “For the past couple months I’ve been going in every morning and getting my work done on my shoulder and my elbow.  It’s doing better now and I’m pitching again.”

Inman rejoined the Marauders Tuesday in the bullpen, was added to the roster Wednesday and was set to make his return to the field Friday before rain got in the way.  The return followed a three game stint in the Gulf Coast League to make sure everything was okay.

“It felt like the ball is coming out normally,” Inman said.  “It was fun playing in the GCL actually because they’re in the middle of a race right now too and it was fun being around that.”

And now he’s back around the Marauders, also in a playoff chase, and with one of their more highly touted guns back in the stable.

Till next time,

Joel