"Corey Hart has lost some of the margin he had to get ready for the start of the 2011 season. The Milwaukee Brewers' rightfielder had a slight setback Saturday with his strained left oblique and probably will be out of action longer than the originally expected two weeks. Hart was cleared to take fly balls in the outfield during a workout but turned for a ball and slightly aggravated the injury. He discontinued the workout and did not take part in any baseball activity Sunday. "I felt it, so I stopped," said Hart. "I was hoping it would feel better than it did. I felt it, just turning for a ball. It's not going as fast as I thought it would. It's gradually getting better, but it's lingering longer than I thought it would. "It's still not there yet. I've never had anything in my side before. Two weeks (out of action) would have been nice but it might be longer. These things can last two weeks or one month. You don't know. I'll come in tomorrow and start over." Originally, Hart was expected to be able to play games by the start of next week at the latest. That won't happen now, but manager Ron Roenicke expressed hope that Hart still would have time to get ready by opening day. "He had a couple of balls OK, then he turned quick the other way and it kind of 'bit' a little bit," said Roenicke. "So he backed off that. Now we know he can't do that yet. "We were hoping if everything went good, in two weeks (from the time of the injury) he'd be playing. Maybe now it's two weeks before he starts swinging. We'll have to see how he does the next couple of days. It'll be a day-to-day thing to see how much we can push him. "I don't really know Corey well enough to know how many at-bats he needs before he feels comfortable. Certain guys need more than others. I still think he's going to be ready (for opening day), even if it's just a week playing games." If Hart is not ready, right field will be manned at least part-time by reserve Mark Kotsay. Whoever wins the other reserve outfield job among the trio of Chris Dickerson, Brandon Boggs and Jeremy Reed will be in the picture as well. "I'm not going to put Mark out there for a week straight, playing every day," said Roenicke. "To put him out there every day, he's going to get sore. I want this guy to be good all year for us." Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/117499463.html
