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ARLINGTON http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-tony-oliva-jersey , Texas (AP) — Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani has new damage in his pitching elbow and the team says Tommy John surgery has been recommended.A couple of hours before Ohtani hit two home runs against Texas on Wednesday, the Angels said he had an MRI earlier in the day that revealed the problem in his right ulnar collateral ligament.“There’s more questions out there right now than answers. We’ll take it one step at a time,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “There’s a lot of consulting that Shohei will do with doctors and just see what the best course of action is, and we’ll see where we are.”The 24-year-old rookie was the Angels’ designated hitter for their series finale against the Rangers. He went 4 for 4 with three RBIs, four runs and a stolen base in a 9-3 victory over Texas.Ohtani didn’t speak with reporters after the announcement about his injury — or following the game.“He’s mentally tough in any situation he’s ever in,” Scioscia said. “Tonight, he was a hitter. He didn’t think about what the future is and what the decision is he’s got to make for his elbow. He was out there playing baseball and hitting the ball.”Asked whether Ohtani would stay in the lineup as a DH beyond Wednesday, Scioscia said: “We’ll see. That’s going to be determined from our medical department.”Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Ohtani hasn’t formally decided to have Tommy John surgery. Eppler and Ohtani plan to have an in-depth conversation about his future Monday after the Angels return from their road trip.“We committed to each other in this process, and we will get through it together as a team,” Eppler said. “But I do feel disappointment for the people in that clubhouse, and primarily Shohei.”The latest development has been dreaded by the Angels and Ohtani’s millions of fans since he was diagnosed with a sprained UCL following a start June 6. After receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection and an injection of stem cells, he was hitting again in early July, and he returned to the mound with his start Sunday at Houston.Ohtani lasted only 2 1/3 innings in that start against the Astros, and he had a drastic drop in velocity during the game. He had been scheduled to throw a light bullpen session Wednesday, but never did after reporting that his elbow was sore. The medical staff then decided that he should get the new MRI in Texas.The Angels and Ohtani clearly took a well-calculated risk in allowing the right-hander to pitch again this season after the Grade 2 sprain of his elbow ligament was discovered. Mindful of the typical recovery timetable from Tommy John surgery, they elected to see whether Ohtani could pitch again during a time frame when he would still likely miss only one full big league season, allowing him to conceivably return in 2020.Eppler declined to confirm any such math, but the Angels realized the attempt to treat Ohtani’s elbow with rest and injections might not work.“It was something that we felt could happen, but we wanted to take a more conservative approach at this moment in time, and did that,” Eppler said.Although Ohtani is enjoying success as the Angels’ designated hitter, Eppler flatly declared that the Angels still see Ohtani as a two-way player, however long they must wait for his pitching career to resume.Eppler declined to speculate on when Ohtani could return to the lineup as a hitter in 2019 if he had Tommy John surgery soon http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-kent-hrbek-jersey , noting that Ohtani hasn’t even decided whether to get it done. Other position players have returned to hitting after Tommy John surgery within roughly six months of the procedure, but Ohtani’s case could be different because of his pitching abilities.“I’m sure at some point he’s going to resume his pitching career,” Scioscia said. “When that is depends on whatever the course of action is.”“We’d love to have him a whole season, but I think that taking a little half-step back here and seeing him pitch for a whole career is more important than looking back and saying “what if?'” he said.The injury puts a decided damper on one of the most exciting rookie seasons in big league history.In 10 starts on the mound, the right-hander was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA. He struck out 63 with 22 walks in 51 2-3 innings.Ohtani hit his 16th homer Tuesday night, his first against a left-hander in the big leagues. He had already joined Babe Ruth as the only players ever to hit 15 homers and pitch 50 innings in a season.Ohtani went into Wednesday night’s game hitting .276 with 16 homers and 44 RBIs in 243 at-bats.Last fall, Ohtani was diagnosed with a sprained elbow ligament while in Japan. Major League Baseball teams were advised of his condition before they could bid on his rights.The Angels paid the $20 million posting fee to Ohtani’s previous club, the Nippon Ham Fighters. Ohtani, who is under the Angels’ contractual control for six years, signed a minor league contract and got $2,315,000 in international bonus money from the Angels.On Monday, Scioscia said Ohtani had been evaluated after coming out of his pitching return early and that there was no apprehension about the elbow. The manager said then that Ohtani was dealing with tightness in his back and a sore right ring finger after a ball deflected off of it during that game, but that the elbow felt great.“When he was getting evaluated, there was obviously a little bit of soreness there,” Scioscia said Wednesday. “I don’t know if Shohei thought it was normal just from not having pitched for a while.” CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — For 10 years, ever since they bonded over baseball at work, Franlet Bencomo and Elbert Albarran haven’t missed an opening day game together.This year, however, they left their kids behind and ate a big breakfast before heading out to watch their beloved Caracas Lions because a hot dog inside the stadium costs more than 10 percent of the roughly $30 each makes a month at their minimum-wage jobs.“Now we have to eat beforehand, watch the game and go straight home” said Bencomo, in line for tickets six hours before the start of Friday’s season opener. “There’s no other way.”Throughout Venezuela Kennys Vargas Jersey , as winter league play gets under way, fans are having to make similar sacrifices to feed their passion for “pelota,” — the word for ball that’s used to describe the national pastime.Hyperinflation has pulverized incomes while putting ticket prices out of reach for many. Others are avoiding the ballpark for fear of getting mugged or because they don’t know how they’ll get home amid a nationwide transportation crisis. In response, more daytime games are being played.Venezuela’s eight professional teams are struggling. For the second straight year, state-run oil company PDVSA had to step in with a $12 million lifeline to pay for everything from imported baseballs to the salaries of the seven foreign-born players — most of them minor league prospects from the U.S. — on each team’s roster.During the offseason, vandals picked through stadiums, stripping bathrooms of metal faucets. Groundskeepers have been battling water shortages in several cities. Meanwhile, ticket prices remain a mystery, with some clubs changing them by the week to keep pace with inflation forecast by the International Monetary Fund to soon reach 10 million percent.In Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, the situation is so dire that the Aguilas (Eagles) team canceled its opener and five other home games this month after an inspector hired by Major League Baseball ruled their diamond didn’t meet minimal safety standards. The club said several of its light towers had the copper wiring stolen and the state government, which owns the facility, hasn’t come up with the relatively modest sum of $39,000 needed to repair the lighting. Still, the Eagles will be playing on the road.Venezuela’s once highly competitive winter league has been in decline for years.While many of the 70-plus Venezuelan players on big league rosters return home for a few games each season, most arriving this year, such as Los Angeles Angels pitcher Eduardo Paredes or Detroit infielder Harold Castro, are little known and don’t reflect the nation’s powerhouse talent. Meanwhile, major league organizations have shut down all their academies in the country.Venezuela is scheduled to host the Caribbean Series in February at Barquisimeto, one of the city’s hardest hit by power outages that have roiled much of the country. Last year’s tournament, which brings together the champions of five Caribbean winter leagues, was moved from Barquisimeto to Guadalajara, Mexico Bert Blyleven Jersey , following deadly protests against Venezuela’s socialist government.Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, a former Venezuela league president and prominent opposition leader, said he remembers going to the stadium with his father during the 1960s oil boom and watching future Hall of Famer Earl Weaver manage the Cardinals in Barquisimeto. Pete Rose, after winning rookie of the year honors, and Barry Bonds are among other major leaguers who played in Venezuela during its golden era.“Back then there wasn’t such a big difference between salaries in the major leagues and what Venezuelan teams could pay,” he said.In something of a departure from his normally fierce criticism of President Nicolas Maduro, Aveledo applauds the government’s decision to spend part of its dwindling supply of dollars on baseball — even if he acknowledges that there are more pressing needs.From field crews to ticket scalpers to hot dog vendors, thousands of families depend on baseball to make a living, and Aveledo says the stadiums have long served as a sporting sanctuary where fans of all classes and political backgrounds can set aside their differences and mounting hardships.“It is one of the few things that unites us,” he said. “For the three months the season lasts, there’s a different vibe in the country.”Indeed, last year stadium attendance rose 5 percent amid the political and economic crisis, although it remains down by a third from a peak in the 2013-2014 season.It’s not just the fans who have to endure sacrifices.Former All-Star shortstop Ozzie Guillen said he was tempted to skip returning home to manage the La Guaira Tiburones (Sharks) for the third straight season.In addition to cross-country bus rides on dangerous roads, players coming from the U.S. run the risk of getting food poisoning at neglected restaurants. And they have to deal with frequent power blackouts, like the one that postponed Monday’s game between the Bravos (Braves) and Magallanes in Valencia.“But I’m not here to cry,” said Guillen, who for the first time since growing up in poverty near Caracas said he has been without running water at his home in a well-to-do district of the capital.Guillen, the first Latino to manage a World Series winner with the 2005 Chicago White Sox, said Venezuelans’ passion for the game shows no sign of fading despite the country’s problems. While ticket and beer prices are rising fast, he insists the ballpark is still the “cheapest bar in all of Venezuela.”“I know things are difficult for the fans,” said Guillen, whose reputation for speaking freely about politics has sometimes gotten him in trouble. “But the game still brings more happiness and joy than sadness.”