Lindstrom's demotion a stunner with Marlins

Worse, Lindstrom could no longer hit his spots and started to doubt his abilities.

"Throwing through some of those issues, health-wise, maybe I started questioning myself," Lindstrom said. "It was, 'Should I really be out here right now?' "

Some nights his back would bark, others it wouldn't.

"It was weird," he said. "It wasn't allowing me to be myself, I guess, but I was willing to overlook that and try to get through."

Had he complained, he could have earned a couple of weeks on the disabled list and worked out his problems amid the comforts of the major leagues, not to mention at a major-league salary.

Instead, he kept his mouth shut and wound up back in the minors.

"Just being stubborn, which is kind of my personality," Lindstrom said. "I'm not like, 'Oh, I'm hurt.' I'm not going to sit around and do nothing. So there was a little struggle."

The irony, Lindstrom said, is he feels better physically than he has in some time. That's why there should be no Anibal Sanchez-style grievance over this demotion, but Lindstrom still comes away a little less naive perhaps.

"I totally learned a lesson," he said. "We'll just leave it at that, if you know what I mean."

He had a painful outing June 12 against the Phillies, took 10 days off, had a heart-to-heart with manager Fredi Gonzalez toward the end of a three-city road trip, then got banged around again Sunday in Oakland.

That's where he joined the extremely short list of pitchers to hit 100 mph in their final outing and then get demoted.

Had Wiley ever heard of such a progression?

"No, I don't think so," he said, "but there's not too many people in the world that throw 100. The thing is getting it under control to use that 100 for really positive stuff. The confidence thing will come back when he can do that."

Toward that end, Lindstrom planned to meet Wednesday night with Dr. Jeff Fishbein, the Marlins' team psychologist, before flying to meet the Isotopes in flood-ravaged Iowa.

The two had never said more than hello to each other since Lindstrom's arrival two winters ago, but the struggling pitcher figured it was time to reach out.

Maybe then he can get back to being the Flamethrowin' Idahoan and Treanor can return to wincing.

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(c) 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.