Hardy says he's not concerned about his back

BOSTON - The Orioles are waiting to hear back from team orthopedist Dr. Michael Jacobs to determine when shortstop J.J. Hardy will undergo an MRI on his back. Hardy is returning to Baltimore and most likely will miss the remainder of the road trip. "Dr. Jacobs, we have a call there and I doubt that he's going to be able to see him today, though he might," said manager Buck Showalter. "He'll see him tomorrow for sure unless something comes up. We'll leave that up to Mike what he's going to do." Hardy continues to feel some discomfort in his back and doesn't want to risk missing significant time as the regular season winds down. "I did baseball stuff today - threw, took some ground balls, took some swings - and it's good, but I'd say not quite good enough to risk playing right now and having a bigger setback, so I think to play it safe, go back and make sure just to avoid that long period of time," he said. Hardy isn't blaming the flight to Tampa. "I don't think so because I still feel like it's improving," he said. "The last couple days I felt a lot of improvement and I came in today thinking that I wanted to do baseball stuff and I did. It was good, just not quite good enough where I want to risk injuring it to the point where I miss a week or two. And if we can try to knock it out and get it done before that, I think that's the safe play." Hardy missed five consecutive games in April after his back flared up in Detroit. "Detroit, I'd say was worse because the muscles completely locked up," he said. "I knew I was all spasmed up to where I couldn't play. I feel like now, emergency situation, I could. I just don't want to get to that point like Detroit, and that's why I'm going back to Baltimore." Asked whether he's overly concerned, Hardy replied, "No, I'm not. If the muscles were completely locked up like they did in Detroit, I think that's where I'd be a lot more concerned. That's why I feel like it's a little bit iffy to get out there tonight, and to be smart about it." Showalter said it's a "safe assumption" that Hardy won't play before the weekend. "I wouldn't be held prisoner to it," Showalter said. "He could get that tonight, it could be hunky-dory and who knows? With the off-day sitting there and a doubleheader Friday..." "The goal is to get Mike to see him and make sure we verify we're heading in the right direction here and not kind of go day-to-day. We'll see what Mike says. He's the expert. Like J.J., I feel like we're taking the right precaution. Like I said yesterday, if we were in a different stage of the season, then we'd probably run him out there." Hardy said he could play if needed. "We're trying to avoid the one week, two week thing right before the end of the season," he said. "I threw, took some groundballs, felt fine. Swinging not quite as good, but still better than anything that happened in April, for sure. "The muscles are completely relaxed, so that's why we're not concerned yet." Hardy, who's batting .281 with 26 doubles, nine home runs and 52 RBIs, will miss his 15th game tonight. He's also been sidelined with hamstring and thumb injuries.