By Rick Hummel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 11, 2007
Aaron Cook of the Rockies and Kip Wells of the Cardinals may have pitched the best games of their careers on the same day Sunday. Cook went nine innings, allowing just one run in what became a 2-1 extra-inning loss at San Diego. And new Cardinal Wells allowed only one hit and no runs over seven innings in a 10-1 win at Houston.
"Yes, I noticed that, too," said Dr. Robert W. Thompson, a professor of vascular surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine. "I was happy." Thompson, in large part, rescued the careers of both men by performing theretofore unusual surgery on each — Cook in 2004 and Wells in 2006.
In August 2004, Cook had to stop pitching because of blood clots in both lungs. In an eight-hour procedure in September 2005, Thompson removed the first rib on Cook''s right side to relieve pressure on the subclavian vein, and a procedure was performed to reroute the vein in Cook''s right wrist. Cook was back pitching the next year, and after a tour of rehabilitation stops in the Colorado system, he came back to the majors to win seven of nine decisions.
Last year, he was 9-15, although with a respectable (for Colorado) earned-run average of 4.23.
Wells'' surgery, done by Thompson last year on March 6 and also performed at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, repaired a blocked artery rather than a vein. Wells had had a complete blockage of the axillary artery, which is in the upper chest and supplies blood to the head and armpit. The artery was replaced by a vein taken from Wells'' leg.
Wells was back pitching in the majors three months later. "In general, when this problem is treated promptly, most ballplayers will recover and return to their previous level of athletic ability," Thompson said. With Cook and Wells having pitched on the same day, the possibility exists that the two could be mound opponents one day this year.
"I''m hoping there might be an occasion where they might meet up this season," Thompson said.
Asked whom he would root for, Thompson said: "I''m a little bit of a hometown fan.
"But I would hope for a tie, or a situation where both would pitch well and the relievers would win or lose."