Dodgers RHP Billingsley has surgery on broken leg

Nov 23, 2008 - 6:54 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Los Angeles Dodgers righthander Chad Billingsley had successful surgery Saturday on his broken left fibula after falling on ice outside his home in Pennsylvania one day earlier.

Billingsley, 24, had a plate inserted into the leg by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Paul Neuman, who worked in consultation with Dodgers surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

According to the team, Billingsley should be healed and ready to throw bullpen sessions at the outset of spring training. However, the righthander's landing leg will be in a cast for two weeks.

Billingsley, who should be released from the hospital Sunday, was not available for comment, but former Los Angeles hurler Dave Stewart - Billingsley's agent - spoke with his client over the phone after the incident.

"He said they had their first snow of the year last night and he came out the front door and just slipped," Stewart told the team's web site. "He was bummed at first when they told him it was broken. But after the surgery, he was fine.

"The doctors said it turned out to be much better than they originally thought, because they thought it might have been really bad. After the surgery, Chad felt well enough to watch his favorite college football team, Notre Dame. But the way that went (a one-point loss to Syracuse), I told him he should let the medication set in and go to sleep. He laughed."

Billingsley went 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA in 35 games - 32 starts - last season.

In the postseason, he won Game Two of the National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs but was the loser in Games Two and Five of the Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing 10 runs in five innings.