Two surgeries down, one to go for Moyer

PHILADELPHIA -- Jamie Moyer has had a long and trying offseason, and he still has another surgery to go before Spring Training.

Moyer, 47, has been in the hospital three times since he suffered a sports hernia injury in September, and he has a fourth trip coming up. He had an initial surgery Oct. 2, but returned to the hospital Oct. 7 with a blood infection. He seemed to be making progress until he had to go back to the hospital Nov. 24 after complaining of recurring symptoms. During that stay, he had a second surgery, on Nov. 27, after tests showed a small collection of infected blood.

"I've been feeling pretty good as of late," Moyer said recently in a telephone interview. "I feel like I'm coming along quite well."

Moyer, who went 12-10 with a 4.94 ERA last season, still has a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) and said he is taking medication for a couple more weeks.

"Once I get the PICC line out I'm looking forward to moving on," he said. "I'm looking forward to the season."

But Moyer is scheduled to have surgery on his right knee next month. He said it should be minor meniscus repair.

"I don't figure that should take long to get over," he said.

Moyer said doctors have told him that he should be ready to compete at the beginning of Spring Training, which begins in mid-February.

"I was telling my wife Karen that I've been playing 20-plus years and never had a surgery," he said. "So I guess I'm making up for it this offseason. I've been pretty blessed to stay away from that kind of stuff. I guess it was my time.

"It was a little frustrating that this thing wasn't reacting correctly. We wanted to get it taken care of, so we decided to go back in there and clean it out [in November] and go through the trials and tribulations of a PICC line again and medication. Not that it wasn't done right the first time, but I had an infection and for some crazy reason I had another infection. When you have a surgery these things can happen."