Shortstop Rafael Furcal, who underwent surgery last week to have a bulging disk partially removed from his lower back, said he believes he will play again this season. But Furcal also said that given the nature of his injury, and the fact he had repeated setbacks before ultimately deciding to have the surgery, he won't push his luck.
"I think I will play, because I feel so much better than before," he said. "Right now, I only feel sore at one point, where I had the surgery. Before, if I would try to run, I would wake up the next day with soreness all down my left leg, and my hamstring would be so sore that I couldn't move it. "We have three months left. They say ... six, seven, eight weeks. But I don't want to go on the field just because I feel good. I want to get it a little bit stronger."
Furcal also said he won't allow the prospect of impending free agency -- he is in the final season of a three-year, $39 million contract -- to lend urgency to his rehabilitation.
"For me, getting healthy is the first thing," he said. "I don't want to think about free agency when I can't even play."
MARLINS 5, DODGERS 4 (11 innings): Brian Falkenborg came on to pitch the 11th inning and gave up a two-out solo homer to Hanley Ramirez, capping a 5-for-6 night for the All-Star shortstop. Before that, the Dodgers left what would have been the winning run stranded in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and 10th innings, and they never managed another hit after Blake DeWitt's leadoff single in the seventh.
