Polanco elbowing his way back for 2011

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The protective sleeve for his left elbow is just another thing stuffed into Placido Polanco's red equipment bag this season. It's another reminder that life is different after surgery, the first of the 35-year-old's playing career.

The sleeve won't change anything from 2010, when Polanco played through what he called the most challenging pain he has felt. In the future, maybe it stops a 93-m.p.h. fastball like the one Tim Hudson threw 343 days ago from damaging his elbow.

"I'm going to wear it on top of my suit," Polanco said.

He was joking, but Polanco talks with a straight face and fixed tone, so it was hard to tell. Plus, injuries in this clubhouse are not exactly a laughing matter these days.

Polanco has two years remaining on a three-year, $18 million deal he signed last winter. He is determined to play in more than the 132 games he did last season, which was a personal low since 2006.

The questions arise with every aging Phillies player: How to manage an everyday load with more wear and tear? Polanco fits squarely on that list. He has already battled a new complication with his left elbow this spring. He hyperextended it on a swing March 15 and played in just three of the Phillies' final 12 Grapefruit League games.

The new injury occurred in the same spot where a surgeon opened up Polanco in October. Initially, the Phillies said they were being cautious by holding Polanco out and that he was day-to-day. But the pain has lingered beyond that, and it is something Polanco will go into April needing to manage.

Polanco said he's fortunate to have avoided major injury in the past. He has played at two active positions (second base and third base) for his entire career. The surgery - to remove bone fragments from his elbow and repair the extensor tendon in his left forearm - corrected structural problems that sidelined him for a total of 34 days in 2010.

Returning from surgery for the first time makes this whole process new. Polanco said he wondered during the offseason if everything would be the same.

"You always think about it because you've never had surgery," Polanco said. "You don't know how you're going to be. You don't know what things you need to be doing - the stretching, the icing - the maintenance-type stuff to make you forget you had surgery. I'm still in that process."