I had just walked into the clubhouse Sunday morning when I saw Carlos Silva, today's scheduled pitcher, and trainer Rick Griffin enter manager Jim Riggleman's office and close the door. Sure enough, when they came out, the lineup card came down, and Ryan Feierabend had replaced Silva as today's starter against the Yankees.

Silva, it turns out, has a stiff back. He tweaked it shagging balls in the outfield on Saturday, and felt it more during picher's fielding practice yesterday.

"It's like all of us: Some days you can't really explain it, there's just a little grab there that doesn't allow you to do much,'' Riggleman said. "And you certainly can't pitch.''

it's not expected to be a season-ending condition, but Silva is scheduled to fly to Minnesota any day now to be with his wife when she delivers their baby.

"That's probably not going to be a big help, either, flying cross-country and all that,'' Riggleman said. "We certainly don't look at it as season-ending, but we don't know exactly how quick well get him back.'''

One other note from today's manager's session: Riggleman said the organization is still looking at Clement, long-term, as a catcher, despite his impending knee surgery.

"We are, unless the doctor says, 'Hey, that aint going to work.' And we're not anticipating that,'' Riggleman said. "To this point, we're fully committed to him as a catcher. Hopefully, this surgery will clean up some areas in there and allow him to get back to a point where he feels much better back there on a consistent basis.''