CHICAGO -- Todd Hollandsworth's right leg is back in a cast and
immobilized, but Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker is optimistic the
outfielder will still be able to play this season.
Hollandsworth has been sidelined since fouling a ball off his right
leg June 27. He suffered a small stress fracture and some nerve
damage in his leg and had predicted he'd be back by Sept. 1. He got
the cast off Monday after wearing it for two weeks and had hoped to
begin running this weekend.

"They put him back in a cast," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said
Friday. "He was showing similar pains. He's hoping now by Sept. 6.
That's the deadline when his cast is scheduled to come off."

"It's probably going to be another week to 10 days of immobilizing
it," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "Todd and the doctors
feel there's a shot that it could heal quickly. It's getting to be
hard to decipher how to heal a stress fracture with the nerve
problems he's had."

Hollandsworth has been able to throw and hit, he just can't run
because of the pain in his leg.

"If he comes back Sept. 6, he has a month to get ready, almost a
month," Baker said. "He and [coaches Gene Clines and Gary Matthews]
have a routine and a regimen to get him ready. The one problem is
that there won't be any minor league games to get him game-ready."

The minor league regular season ends Sept. 6.

Hollandsworth was batting .318 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs in
57 games when injured, and was 9-for-16 off the bench with two pinch-
hit home runs.

"We miss him a lot," Baker said. "This guy did a great job for us.
Not to slight the players who are here, but a guy with that kind of
pop in his bat, the days when you rest [Moises Alou] and Sammy
[Sosa], you really wouldn't lose much production."

Could the Cubs still add a bat?

"You get to this point of the year and you can't be optimistic about
adding people," Hendry said. "I think we'd all agree that our
offense has been pretty good lately. You always want extra
reinforcements in September, but I certainly don't know if there's a
Todd Hollandsworth out there that you could get if you wanted to."