Dodgers pitcher breaks leg

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley is recovering after breaking his left leg during a freak fall at his home in Reading, Pa.

The team said on its Web site that the 24-year-old right-hander slipped on ice and sustained a spiral fracture of the fibula, the smaller of the two bones in the shin.

"He said they had their first snow of the year (Friday) night and he came out the front door and just slipped," said Billingsley's agent, former Dodgers pitcher Dave Stewart. "He was bummed at first when they told him it was broken."

Orthopedic surgeon Paul Neuman, after consulting with Dodgers surgeon Neal ElAttrache, inserted a plate in an operation Saturday to help the fracture heal.

The 24th overall pick of the 2003 draft is "fully" expected to be ready for spring training and the start of the 2009 season.

In 2008, he was 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA and 201 strikeouts.