Elbow

Elbow with Devotchka Where: Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave. When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Price: $29-$40 Info: http://www.greektheatrela.com

Blake Griffin said the bursa sac in his swollen right elbow was drained after Sunday's game against the Chicago Bulls at Staples Center. Griffin had the same elbow drained last season. "It's still a little big," Griffin said Tuesday. "But they put some anti-inflammatory fluid in there. It should go down in the next couple of days. " Griffin said he was told that it wouldn't be a good idea to have surgery on the bursa sac right now. "If you do, there's an increased chance of arthritis," Griffin said.

Tiger Woods won't be on hand to defend his title at the AT&T National next week, but he plans on being ready in July to continue his quest for his first major championship since 2008. The world's No. 1-ranked golfer announced on his website Wednesday that he will not compete in the National, which benefits his foundation, at Congressional Country Club due to a left elbow strain doctors found after his return from last weekend's U.S. Open. "I have been advised to take a few weeks off, rest and undergo treatment," Woods said on his website.

Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg underwent arthroscopic surgery in Los Angeles to remove bone chips from his right elbow. The team said outfielder Bryce Harper and first baseman Adam LaRoche also had operations last week. Harper had the bursa in his left knee repaired after it had hampered him last season. LaRoche had his left, throwing elbow cleaned up. All three are expected to be ready by spring training. Strasburg, whose procedure was performed by Dodgers team physician Neal ElAttrache, is scheduled to resume his off-season throwing program in four to six weeks, the Washington Post reported.

DENVER--As if George Karl needed another reason to loathe the Lakers. The self-styled Lakers hater watched video of Metta World Peace smacking Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried in the mouth Monday and came away with a fairly straightforward review: two thumbs down. “I saw it on film and I thought it was - whatever the word is - premeditated,” Karl said Friday about a play toward the end of the third quarter in which no foul was called. The NBA seemed to agree, retroactively assessing World Peace a flagrant 2 foul on Thursday.

PHOENIX - Zack Greinke is scheduled to play catch Friday, four days after he returned to Los Angeles to get his sore right elbow examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Greinke won't throw a bullpen session until next week. With only two weeks remaining in spring training, Manager Don Mattingly said he didn't think it would be possible for Greinke to pitch in more than two exhibition games before the start of the regular season. Greinke has pitched in only two games this spring and appears to be a longshot to be able to face the San Francisco Giants on April 2. Because the Dodgers have two days off in the first eight days of the regular season, they won't need a fifth starter until April 13. They could therefore place Greinke on the disabled list without making any alterations to their rotation.

Wrong place, wrong time. With three days to think things over and see plenty of replays, Lakers forward Metta World Peace viewed his elblow on Oklahoma City guard James Harden as nothing more than cosmic forces suddenly creating chaos. "It was bad timing for me and then, physically, it was bad timing for Mr. Harden," World Peace said Wednesday at the Lakers' practice facility in El Segundo. "Who can write up a left-hand dunk and then all of the sudden somebody is right behind you?

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly was watching videotape of his closer, Jonathan Broxton , on Wednesday morning, seeking clues to Broxton's inability to throw strikes the night before, when team trainer Stan Conte walked into the room. "You don't need to look at tape anymore," Mattingly said Conte told him. The reason: After repeatedly insisting he felt fine in recent days, Broxton had acknowledged a sore elbow on his right pitching arm. A couple of hours later, there was more bad news for the Dodgers.

Hong-Chih Kuo is scheduled to undergo his fifth elbow operation Friday, but his agent said he intends to pitch next season — even if it's not for the Dodgers. "There's no thought of retirement," Alan Chang said. "He's fully committed and highly motivated to do what it takes. " In the final month of the regular season, Kuo sounded uncertain about his plans for 2012, telling The Times he wanted to pitch but telling mlb.com he might want to run a restaurant in his native Taiwan instead.

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal will have major surgery on his right elbow next week. The team did not say in its statement how long the three-time All-Star will be out. Dr. James Andrews, the noted orthopedist, examined Furcal on Wednesday and will perform Tommy John surgery. The 35-year-old Furcal has been sidelined since reinjuring the elbow he hurt late last season. Furcal and the team had tried rehabilitation rather than reconstructive surgery in the off-season.

That C.J. Wilson surpassed the 200-inning mark for the fourth consecutive season on Sunday is as much a testament to Dr. Lewis Yocum, the longtime Angels physician who died of liver cancer at age 65 in May, as it is to the left-handed pitcher's durability. Yocum, who saved the careers of hundreds of professional baseball players, performed Tommy John surgery on Wilson's elbow in 2003, after Wilson had completed his third season in the Texas Rangers organization. Yocum also performed two cleanup procedures on Wilson's elbow, one in 2008, after Wilson's second year as a Rangers reliever, and another last October, following Wilson's first season with the Angels after signing a five-year, $77.5-million deal with the team.

The regular season is almost over and Carl Crawford is still healthy. "I'm just grateful," Crawford said. This time last year, Crawford was recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery. "Just to be able play baseball again, to be able to do what I've done all my life, not having to worry about getting hurt," Crawford said. Crawford played in his 106th game Thursday. He played in only 31 last season for the Boston Red Sox, who traded him to the Dodgers days after his operation.

NEW YORK -- Lleyton Hewitt, a 32-year-old Australian who won the U.S. Open in 2001 and who was never a U.S. crowd favorite because he once was perceived to have made racist comments toward popular American James Blake, had the crowd on Louis Armstrong Stadium chanting his name Tuesday. In a quarterfinal match against Mikhail Youzhny, Hewitt, who is ranked only 66th in the world and has had at least five surgeries over the last decade, retrieved a shot after he tripped and fell. His desperate attempt left blood running down his elbow,  and the ball went into the net. Not long after that, Hewitt was beaten by 21st-seeded Youzhny, a 31-year-old Russian, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (3)

ARLINGTON, Texas - An injury-plagued and frustration-filled first season with the Angels came to an end Wednesday for reliever Sean Burnett, who was diagnosed with a small tear in his flexor tendon and is out for the year. Burnett, the former Washington Nationals setup man who signed a two-year, $8-million deal with the Angels last winter, said he probably will undergo surgery, which would sideline him for three to five months but would be a better option than injections or rest and rehabilitation, which haven't worked this season.

Tiger Woods isn't wasting much time with sleep as he prepares for the start of the British Open on Thursday. For the last few days, the world's top-ranked golfer has been waking up at the crack of dawn, eager to start his practice rounds. "I like getting up early, especially when the sun comes up at 4 in the morning here," he told reporters. "Its hard to sleep in. " Muirfield officials have been holding him back a bit, with no golfers allowed to tee off until 7 a.m. while the grounds crew grooms the course.

If there were any doubts about Tiger Woods' determination to return from an elbow injury and play in the British Open this week, he pretty much put them to rest on Sunday. Stepping off an overnight flight to Scotland, Woods went directly to Muirfield for a practice round. "I took a couple of weeks off and that's why I didn't play and I started practicing last week," Woods told ESPN.com  while playing with Jason Day and Dustin Johnson. "It felt fine. That's one of the reasons I let it heal, so I could go right back at it. " Woods hasn't played since the U.S. Open last month.

Chad Billlingsley's sore elbow flared up again Friday. Billingsley left the game against the Marlins with one out in the fourth inning, with what the Dodgers termed a tender elbow. He had previously been on the 15-day disabled list with a sore elbow. Since returning July 23, he had won six consecutive starts before Friday. Aggravating the elbow a second time has to be of greater concern to the Dodgers. It could be a good thing they included right-hander Josh Beckett in that proposed blockbuster deal with the Red Sox for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

Bernard Hopkins eclipsed his own record as the oldest boxing champion on Saturday night with his unanimous-decision victory over Tavoris Cloud at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But did an elbow by "The Executioner" to Cloud's left eye help the 48-year-old champion win the IBF light-heavyweight title? "He hit me with an elbow but I'm not complaining," Cloud said after the bout, his first loss in 20 outings. "It is what it is. " Actually, that would be a complaint. The referee ruled it an accidental head butt, but replays showed it was a short left hook, complete with elbow, that did the damage.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano, who was a budding superstar before his career was sidetracked by an elbow injury, made an amazing no-look, between-the-legs catch of a hard one-hop grounder on Friday. Liriano, who was the American League's rookie of the year in 2006 when he went 12-3 with a 2.16 earned-run average, improved to 8-3 this season by pitching a complete game in a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The great stop by Liriano came when the Cubs' Dioner Navarro led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a hard grounder up the middle.

These days, Greta Van Susteren isn't just covering the news, she's making it. Speculation is rampant that Van Susteren may be getting ready to walk away from her 10 p.m. Fox News Channel show and head back to CNN, where she rose to prominence in the 1990s as a legal analyst. One catalyst behind such a possible move? This week's announcement that hard-hitting anchor Megyn Kelly will get a prime-time slot after she returns from maternity leave later this year. Word is that Kelly could get the 10 p.m. real estate, which might leave Van Susteren with no home in prime time, between 8 and 11 p.m.  PHOTOS: Cable versus broadcast ratings Meanwhile, CNN is in the middle of yet another reinvention, this one overseen by former NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker.