We are hoping it's not. Even if it's not something serious, it's going to set him back a little bit anyways.

We make sure we're not pushing guys too fast, too early. And then, as we get about a week or 10 days away (from the regular season), we'll push it a little bit harder.

Obviously, it's a great thing to honor your country and to get that type of experience on such a big stage, but we're a little bit selfish in wanting those guys back as soon as possible. With so many new faces in camp this year, ideally you'd like to have all of them around as much as possible to establish chemistry and continuity in your lineup. But it's a great experience for Vernon, who's getting the most playing time of anyone.

They were raving about him two months ago. I think he's done a nice job for us. It's magnified at the end because he's struggled a little bit of late.

It breaks it up a little bit -- gets them out there to face some competition. It gets the guys on the mound seeing hitters that are swinging and working on making some pitches. It revs things up a little bit.

It was a little bit of a sloppy game tonight. We'll bounce back tomorrow. Errors are part of the game.

It was a little bit of a sloppy game.

I just think it's his timing. He's off-balance a little bit more -- and he's getting caught out front a little bit more. But he's always hit. He's going to hit. It's just one of those things.

He's struggling out of the gate, he's a better pitcher than that, he'll bounce back. His location is a little bit off.