While sitting, watching hard for Moehler.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

DETROIT _ The hardest part for right-hander Brian Moehler following his emergency appendectomy in Chicago last Saturday came during the flight back to Detroit.

``I couldn't lift or carry anything, but what made it worse was that they made me use a wheelchair,'' Moehler said Friday. ``Here I am, a 28-year-old guy squeezed into this little wheelchair, and there's a 60-year-old woman pushing me. I just kept my head down and hoped no one was staring at me.''

Moehler was placed on the disabled list retroactive to April 17 and said he expected to miss three starts.

``I'm hoping to start exercising Sunday and then try to play catch next week,'' he said. …