Jason Marquis is still wearing the wristband he received at the hospital where his seven-year old daughter, Reese, is recovering from a serious bicycle accident.
"Obviously I know in a big league game I'd have to take it off," he said, ``but I'm going to try to keep it on until my daughter gets out of the hospital."
Baseball had to take a back seat as Marquis spent two weeks back at his home in Staten Island, N.Y., to be with wife as they watched over their daughter. He returned to the team on Tuesday and is trying to get in game shape as quickly as he can.
"She was sedated for nine days," he said. "I couldn't leave until I saw her eyes, heard her voice. Baseball is able to give me a mental break. I wouldn't be around here for 13 years if baseball wasn't an escape. Obviously this is the worst thing I've ever been through in my life, but you do go through other hardships throughout your career, and you get on the mound, and in the clubhouse, it sort of eases your mind a little bit."
He'll build up enough arm strength to enter the Twins' rotation sometime this month. When he's not involved in baseball-related activities, he'll be thinking about his daughter as she continues her recovery.
"She's making a lot of progress; everything's going in the right direction," he said. ". The healing process of her wounds has to heal up. The initial four or five days were a nightmare, something that no parent should ever live through.
"But with the support we've had from friends, families and the team of doctors they put on her, from the nurses to the support of the Twins and the trainers, friends, family, former teammates, current teammates, it meant a lot. I've seen a lot of positive energy flow to her, and really help her."
Marquis didn't want to divulge many details about the accident, but made it clear that it was serious.
"Ultimately, there was just a lot of internal bleeding, that luckily enough, my wife and father-in-law were able to get her to the hospital in time, and like I said, I had an unbelievable team of doctors there to save my daughter's life," he said.
