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Brian Wilson Injury: Giants Closer No Longer Needs To Keep Up Appearances

The San Francisco Giants now know that they will be without closer Brian Wilson for the remainder of the 2012 season. The pitcher suffered an elbow injury during his only save attempt and conversion against the Colorado Rockies last week. He will need a second Tommy John surgery and will not return until 2013 -- if he comes back to the Giants, that is.

Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area relayed some Wilson comments in a Sunday column, with a lede that was extremely telling.

Brian Wilson lied to his manager and trainer Thursday in Colorado because he could not accept the idea of "walking off the mound a failure."

Baggarly points out that Wilson attempting to keep up appearances that his elbow was better than it actually was and trying to explain his serious injury as an ankle issue is something that he and the team will have to come to terms with, but now Wilson appears relieved that he no longer needs to keep up the act. Still, he remained unapologetic about his actions.

"That's how I play baseball," he said Sunday. "Push it to the limits."

Baggarly also touches on the fact that 2013 will be Wilson's final year of arbitration eligibility and this injury will almost certainly bring with it a significant pay cut. Still, Baggarly foresees that the team will bring Wilson back next season for at least one more round of his particular brand of crowd-pleasing and nail-biting performances.

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