Reds 1st baseman has second surgery

CINCINNATI - He was on the record that he wasn't going to come back to work until he was 100%.

With that in mind, Joey Votto was being prudently aggressive in his rehab regimen. That is to be expected from someone who is as dedicated to his craft as he is.

Votto, who had surgery July 17th for a torn medial meniscus in his left knee, was naturally pushing the envelope. Thursday apparently the envelope ripped.

Nothing major but he apparently jarred something loose in the repaired joint that floated free and was causing discomfort. To the extent that he returned to Cincinnati Friday from Chicago and had a second procedure to remove the fragment.

Reds head trainer Paul Lessard told the Enquirer's John Fay that the scope, through the same aperture used for the original procedure, took about 6 minutes.

But no matter the duration, anytime an object is thrust into ones knee, there is some trauma inflicted and so while not going all the way back to square one, Votto will have to reconfigure his time-line for returning to the lineup.

The most optimistic estimates run anywhere from 7-10 days beyond when he would have returned were it not for the setback. Come-what-may, the Reds willl likely be without their All-Star first baseman through the end of August.

Anything before that will be gravy. The good news is the Reds continue to win. Saturdays 4-2 victory at Chicago, coupled with a Pirates loss, expands their division lead to four and a half games.