Glover and Kelley must monitor health as they get back to work

More on the return of Koda Glover and Shawn Kelley from the disabled list. Both relievers were reinstated Friday, with Matt Grace and A.J. Cole sent back to Triple-A Syracuse.

The left hip impingement is certainly worrisome for Glover because it was a pre-existing condition that he had to work through at the end of last season. Glover recalls how the injury first popped up last season and how it affected his effectiveness.

"It's one of them things where kind of like last year, I was pitching well and the impingement happens and you start thinking more about it and you're more worried about not getting more hurt than you are worried about pitching," Glover said. "So that kind of relates. You have some drawbacks there. I'm just ready to get back out there and move forward."

Glover said in order for the hip to not flare up again, he must go back to his physical therapy sessions between appearances that he used to rehab the injury in the offseason.

"Before spring training, I had a really good offseason as far as getting my hips healthy," Glover said. "I kind of got away from that and they told me not to. So it kind of bit me in the butt there. We've been getting after it since I've been on the DL. I feel really, really strong, so I'm pretty excited to get back out there."

Lower back strains like the one Kelley experienced can be the type of injury that can linger, as well.

"I think it's pretty much cleared up," Kelley said. "It's something I will stay on top of to keep from happening again because now this is the second time in the last two, three years that I have had low back injury. I'm getting old now and I don't want it to keep hurting. I will continue to stay proactive about it, but as far as in the game and pitching, I'm not worried about it."

It was also unique that both Kelley and Glover return on the same day, giving the Nationals bullpen a boost it has needed with guys playing outside of their roles in a patchwork couple of weeks.

"It's good when everybody's right and healthy and I think it will help out," Kelley said. "I think we'll have a couple of fresh arms that have been in those situations before and help everybody else out. Hopefully get us rolling in the right direction and keep winning baseball games."

Glover is just stoked to have his teammate back.

"Yeah, my boy Shawn is with me, so I'm not going in alone," Glover said. "So I feel pretty happy about it."