Rusty Sanchez misses start

Hens shortstop Ramon Santiago applies the tag to Durham runner Delmon Young, but the Bull was ruled safe on the play last night at Fifth Third Field.

Humberto Sanchez spent yesterday's game preparing for another day at the office, working through agility drills with Mud Hens strength and conditioning coach Keith Pegg.

"It's fun, actually. The pitching is the hard part," Sanchez said of the workout. "It was agility stuff - just getting this big, old body moving, trying to make it a big, athletic machine."

But yesterday was anything but business as usual for Sanchez, who was scratched from his scheduled start against Durham. While trade rumors involving the 6-foot-6, 270-pound right-hander continue to swirl, the reason Sanchez did not pitch last night was elbow tenderness.

"[The injury] is hard to explain. It's just uncomfortable for me to throw," Sanchez said. "I know I could go out there now, and my body could take the toll. But there's two months [left] in the season.

"We're just playing it day-to-day right now. I feel it's a temporary thing. I don't even look at it as an injury."

Sanchez thinks some of his problems stem from a period of inactivity around the All-Star break. After making his July 3 start against Indianapolis, he threw only one inning before making his next start July 14 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Sanchez said his one inning in the Futures Game July 9 wasn't enough work in an 11-day span.

"I'm the kind of person who likes to throw every day during the season. I don't like having off-days between starts," Sanchez said.

"For me, [the rest] builds up rust."

The rest might have been good for Sanchez, who has never thrown more than 118 innings in any of his first four pro seasons. This year the right-hander threw 712/3 innings for Double-A Erie and has 471/3 innings for the Hens, meaning he already has a career-high 119 innings.

"I think this is a temporary thing. I'm just going to catch my breath and get ready for the long haul," Sanchez said of the missed start.

MORE MOVES: Right-hander John Ennis joined the Mud Hens yesterday from Double-A Erie, where he was 2-3 with a team-leading 13 saves and a 3.08 ERA.

To make room for Ennis on the roster, the Hens placed right-hander Brian Boehringer on the disabled list with a sore right elbow. Boehringer, who joined the team July 18, had a 13.50 ERA in two Toledo appearances.

THREE-DOT DATA: The Mud Hens scoreboard isn't equipped to post a number larger than nine for any inning, so the team began flashing a "1" and a "0" in the first inning to signify the 10 runs scored by Durham. Last night's crowd of 6,724 broke a string of seven consecutive regular-season sellouts for the Hens. After allowing seven runs in two-thirds of an inning, Toledo starter Steve Green's ERA ballooned from 1.95 before the game to 3.58 after.