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Brandon McCarthy stable after surgery

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  • Brandon McCarthy stable after surgery

    After two hours of surgery to relieve pressure on his brain Wednesday night, A's starter Brandon McCarthy was alert and in stable condition Thursday, according to the team.

    A line drive by the Angels' Erick Aybar struck McCarthy on the right side of his head in the fourth inning Wednesday. McCarthy walked off the field under his own power and didn't lose consciousness. A CT scan at Summit Medical Center confirmed that McCarthy had an epidural hemorrhage, brain contusion and skull fracture. He was taken to another hospital for surgery.

    "Our first concern is Brandon's health, and we are heartened to learn he has shown progress in his recovery after surgery," A's general manager Billy Beane said in a statement. "We are glad to report he is stable, awake and alert. ... Brandon remains in everyone's thoughts as we wish him a speedy recovery."

    Dr. Geoffrey Manley, the vice chairman of neurological surgery at UCSF, said he saw a replay of the line drive hitting McCarthy's head. He said that typically, when an object strikes that temporal area with enough force to cause a fracture, the bone fragments cut the middle meningeal artery, causing a hematoma, or bleeding that creates pressure on the brain.

    "If you are not treated for this, you could die, but if you're treated rapidly, you usually have a very, very good recovery," Manley said. "That is why people need to be evaluated promptly. Most patients who have this kind of injury return to a normal life. I have treated other athletes with similar injuries who have returned to playing sports."

    Manley, who was in charge of Bryan Stow's treatment after a beating in the Dodger Stadium parking lot left Stow in a coma last year, said that he has had patients leave the hospital four or five days after surgery for epidural hematomas. Before any major physical activity, however, the fracture must heal, which can take months.

    "He might not be back the rest of the season," Manley said, "but I don't think this would preclude him from playing baseball."

    Arizona reliever Brad Ziegler, McCarthy's former Oakland teammate, had his skull fractured by a line drive off the bat of former Giants outfielder Fred Lewis in a minor-league game Sept. 15, 2004. Ziegler did not have surgery, because there was no hemorrhaging, but he spent six days in the ICU.

    He made it to the majors with the A's in 2008, and even another freak fracture in a different part of his skull that year did not derail his career.

    "For me, the physical part was the toughest," Ziegler said of the first skull fracture. "I couldn't work out all offseason, even cardio, until the fracture healed, so my first five or six starts in 2005 were really bad.

    "The mental part that was hard was because I wasn't pitching well - honestly, I wasn't ever afraid of getting hit again. I felt like the odds of it happening in the first place were minuscule, so what were the odds of it happening again?"

    Ziegler has been in touch with McCarthy's wife, Amanda, to offer support this offseason, because he knows McCarthy will be going stir-crazy, but beyond a few months of boredom, Ziegler has few fears for McCarthy's future.

    "Brandon is really mentally strong to begin with, so I don't see this as a big hurdle," Ziegler said.

    Left-hander Dallas Braden said that every pitcher knows there is inherent risk in throwing a baseball, both to the batter and to the pitcher.

    "It's just an unfortunate thing to happen," Braden said. "I know what Brandon already has gone through with his shoulder injuries, and what he's overcome, and there's no doubt in my mind that he will get the best treatment possible and he will be back out there."

    Right-hander Dan Straily, who went 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in three starts with Oakland last month, has joined the A's in Seattle and likely will take McCarthy's spot in the rotation, giving the team four rookie starters.

    Read more: Brandon McCarthy stable after surgery - SFGate
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