Pablo Sandoval went down on May 2 with a broken hamate bone, a small bone in the hand that hasn't been useful to humans since we had tails. But when it breaks, it can create pain and infection, so for the second straight season, Sandoval had a hamate bone removed. He's the Tommy John of hamates.
But while last year's injury kept him out six weeks, that was mostly because his throwing hand (right) was affected. His problem was with the left hand this year, and Sandoval has remained optimistic that he'd be back closer to four weeks this time around. And from his personal Twitter account, he sends an encouraging tweet:
Update on my Rehab - I did 50 swing today and catch 25 groundball and NO PAIN AT ALL #PANDAMODE ON twitter.com/KFP48/status/2…
— KFP48 (@KFP48) May 25, 2012
He took 50 swings from the left side and 15 from the right with a fungo bat according to a subsequent tweet. The Giants have scored over 4.5 runs per game since his injury, so I guess we all know what the problem was now.