SEATTLE — Eric Wedge will spend a second night in a Seattle area hospital Tuesday as doctors try and determine the cause of dizziness that sent the Mariners manager to the hospital a day earlier.
Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik provided an update on his manager before Tuesday night’s game against Cleveland. Zduriencik spent time with Wedge earlier in the day, but doctors wanted to continue running tests to determine why Wedge suddenly fell ill.
“He’s doing well. He’s in good spirits. But it’s a little premature to say yet exactly what the prognosis is going to be,” Zduriencik said. “But more than anything else, just a precaution, they want to keep him another evening as they get the results from the tests that are ongoing.”
Seattle bench coach Robby Thompson, who will serve as the fill-in manager for a second straight game, said he spoke with Wedge’s wife Kate during the day. Thompson said Wedge was still having dizziness on Tuesday but it was less than what he experienced a day earlier.
“He is resting peacefully. He’s been up and down a little bit. The dizziness is not as bad and we’re hoping that continues to get better each hour,” Thompson said. “Hopefully we’ll know a little bit more today or later this evening.”
Wedge was helped off the field about halfway through the Mariners’ hitting session Monday and into the Seattle clubhouse. Wedge was examined by team physicians Dr. Mitch Storey and Dr. Edward Khalfayan, and the team training staff. Wedge was feeling better after being checked out in the clubhouse, but the team still decided to have him examined at a hospital.
Seattle’s players said it was odd and concerning to see Wedge being helped off the field and not immediately knowing what happened.
“It was kind of scary during BP. You kind of saw him walking off the field and he couldn’t really walk that well. It’s good to hear that he’s doing all right now,” Seattle center fielder Dustin Ackley said. “It was during our group of hitting and I saw him behind the cage and I saw (trainer) Rick (Griffin) there with him. … Once you saw him walking off you knew something was wrong.”
The 45-year-old Wedge is in his third season as Seattle’s manager. He’s the second Mariners coach to have a health issue this season. Third-base coach Jeff Datz missed time earlier in the season undergoing treatment for skin cancer.
“We’re probably all lunatics for wanting to do this job. Sometimes it wears you down. It’s just part of it,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “I know when the season is over I collapse. Then regroup and do it again.”
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