LOS ANGELES -- The news on Hiroki Kuroda remains positive -- amazingly so, really, given the frightening moment on Saturday when the Dodger pitcher was struck in the head by a line drive while pitching at Arizona.
Stan Conte, the team's trainer and director of medical services, said tests conducted before Monday's Dodgers-Cardinals game confirmed that Kuroda had a mild concussion, and nothing more, and while the pitcher is experiencing intermittent headaches, they are mild, and at times he has no symptoms at all.
"Today was better than I expected," said Conte.
That was also true when Kuroda spent time on an exercise bike -- testing to see if an increased heart rate would bring on increased symptoms, another indicator of the degree of the concussion -- and had no adverse effects.
Still, Conte sent the pitcher home once the tests were complete, well before Monday's game, not wanting him to be part of game-time activity, even as a spectator.
"The brain has to heal," said Conte. "All the sensory stimulation that's out here, which is amazing -- the clubhouse, the background sounds, the crowd, all that kind of stuff -- overstimulates the brain.
"So we sent him away to just have him rest. But we'll bring him back, and if he's doing well, I'm going to want him to see how he responds to a lot of the sensory input, and whether that increases or decreases the symptoms.
"I'm not sure that will be tomorrow (Tuesday). It will depend how he's doing."
Kuroda is also scheduled to see a Los Angeles neurologist Tuesday for further examination.
While the pitcher is doing well, Conte said it's impossible to know when he'll be ready to return to action. Brain function must be at 100 percent before he's cleared to play -- to return at less would increase susceptibility to another concussion -- and recovery time is unpredictable.
"Some of these mild concussions clear up in a couple days," said Conte. "Others remain for several weeks. So it's a little bit of an unknown at this point."
Manager Joe Torre was encouraged enough by Kuroda's condition to make a small joke.
"I asked some questions today in English for Kenji (Nimura, Kuroda's translator), and he seemed to know the question before Kenji translated. So I'm not sure what was triggered over there. I mean, I'm not accusing him of anything," he added, to laughter.
"But the greatest gift for me right now is that smile on his face. And he feels a lot better than we all thought he would when it first happened."
Torre said, not surprisingly, that Kuroda will definitely miss his Thursday turn in the rotation -- no decision has been made about a replacement -- and that there's no way to know how the pitcher will react when he gets back on the mound.
"I think each one's an individual case," he said, "whether it's a hitter (or pitcher) -- and I've been that hitter. Frank Robinson was that hitter.
"It takes a little bit of a meeting with yourself, because there you are back out there, and it's got to be a déjà vu involved in there somewhere. But I think with each individual, it's a hurdle you've got to deal with. And you can't practice it.
"It'll be when you go out there, and then see how you are."