Rush to Injury

[cubfan33]

I enjoy getting email questions about players. It's always fun to hear what smart baseball fans think and I like to think that my subscribers are a little higher up the food chain than most. Most, recently, have been about ROBBY ALOMAR. "What's wrong with Robby?" they ask? There's a big thread over on Netshrine.com with the same question. When a player dips from their expected level, many people - fans, media, whoever - one of the easiest explanations is "he must be hurt." Cases like RICH GARCES keep this going - a player is hurt, fails to tell the medical staff, his performance suffers, the truth eventually comes out and everyone nods and says "see, I told you he must have been hurt." The problem is that the player is not always hurt. Baseball teams are not under the same rules as the NFL where every single injury that could affect the betting must be reported using rules and definitions that have amazing details. (Yes, I said they were for betting and if you don't believe that, let's play some poker.) A player like Alomar can dip in performance for a million reasons - maybe the New York media got to him, maybe he doesn't like Bobby V, maybe Mary Pierce is excited that MIKE PIAZZA isn't gay - whatever. There's a million reasons and expected performance is just that, an expectation. The first assumption should not be that a player is hurt.

All that prologue to talk about a non-injury. EDGARDO ALFONZO has had an off year, along with the rest of his teammates. Two months back, in the second game, Alfonzo now reports that he hurt his wrist. (Psst, a bit late, Ed!) Alfonzo has undergone some X-rays which found nothing. Is it an injury? Was it an injury? Again, we'll never know. My guess is that there may have been something there at first, but that by now, with proper treatment, he should have been at 100%. He's not and the Mets stink on ice. It's something to keep an eye on, but so far, Steve Phillips offseason buying spree has had few results.

JEROMY BURNITZ lost his bat during his Tasmanian Devil tornado twisting swing for the third time tonight. The bat flew out into the crowd and plugged some kid in the head. The kid looked ok and kept the bat ... good for him. Why is this significant? It's the THIRD time in a week. Sure, it happens now and again but three in a week? Earlier this week, one of the bats hit a small child and injured it. Now, this is a fluke of the game and I hope the child is fine in the long run, but the announcers on ESPN made a big deal about how concerned Burnitz was and how he "reached out" to the family with an autograph and a ball. A better way of showing concern would be to HOLD ON TO THE BAT. If Burnitz is patently unsafe, he shouldn't be playing. GREG MADDUX showed his concern by trying to plug Burnitz with the next pitch. I've always liked Greg.

CARL EVERETT is now on the DL. As UTK warned last night, John Hart wasn't going to play shorthanded, whatever that means to a team that's fought injuries all year like Aussies at Gallipoli. RYAN LUDWICK was called up to replace him, but he'd better not unpack with IVAN RODRIGUEZ and FRANK CATALANOTTO on the way back, both potentially on Friday.

CHRISTIAN GUZMAN was held out of last night's spanking of the Indians for not reporting on time for treatment of his sore shoulder. (See, there had been no reports of a sore shoulder ...) Guzman was very angered by Gardenhire's conduct and more perturbed, according to excellent sources, by the way the Twins trainers dealt with it. "It's a joke," said our clubhouse source. "These new guys are costing us games. Contraction and ownership cost us our guy in here [former trainer Dick Martin.]" Guzman did enter the game when DENNY HOCKING strained his groin. Hocking was out of the lineup tonight.

CHRIS SNELLING is cursed. The hot Mariners prospect is on the 60 day DL with a torn ACL and is out for the season. The tape of the injury was quite reminiscent of BJ SURHOFF earlier this season. Snelling is compared by many to Lenny Dykstra, but he's never been healthy enough to live up to the comparison.

As warned yesterday (I love saying that ...) JOSH BECKETT is headed to the DL. Marlins officials told UTK that Beckett's blister is not in the same spot as the blister that disabled him earlier. He is not expected to miss more than the required fifteen days.

RAMON MARTINEZ was placed on the DL last night with post-concussion syndrome. While Martinez will likely recover before fifteen days, the move had to be made when RICH AURILIA was activated. I learned something from this - while Martinez hadn't played for a couple days, he could not be placed on the DL retroactively due to roster restrictions. Why doesn't MLB just publish these?

If I'd written UTK for years, I'd probably be sick of the name RUDY SEANEZ. Sore shoulder for Rudy. Snooze. JOAQUIN BENOIT was called up to replace him - Benoit has started for the Rangers earlier this season and I haven't seen how they intend to use him. I really like the little I've seen of Benoit. Maybe Jamey Newberg of www.newbergreport.com will tell us more and give UTK a quick mention in his excellent column. (Wink.)

KENT MERCKER had a freak injury last night, slashing the "webbing" between his thumb and index finger when he reached out with his bare hand to try and field a comebacker. It is unclear if tendons or ligaments are involved, but he is scheduled for surgery and will head to the DL. After a comeback from a cerebral hemorrhage, this probably seems like nothing to him. Smaller, at least.

EL DUQUE threw well in a bullpen session in Tampa. He went around seventy pitches and is on track to return late in the month. ANDY PETTITTE makes what should be his last rehab start tomorrow.

BRIAN TOLLBERG underwent successful Tommy John surgery today. We wish him well in his rehab and look forward to reporting on his return in about a year.

BARRY BONDS passed Frank Robinson tonight for fourth on the All-Time Home Run list. Lee Sinins deals with these way better than me (and if you haven't bought his Encyclopedia yet, go do it now at:
www.baseball-encyclopedia.com) but it occurred to me to do bad math. With Bonds at 587 and on pace to hit 40 more this year, he'll have 627. If he descends back to hitting 40 per year as he's done since 1996, he's just better than three years away from passing Aaron. Without the freak 73, Bonds and Aaron have very similar numbers at comparable ages and Bonds is in good enough shape to "hang on" four more years at a positive value. I think barring major injury that Bonds will pass Aaron about this time in four years.

The Yanks are now cursed for all those damned Longhorns they drafted.

I'm fighting the panic attacks a bit today, so I didn't make as many phone calls, but I hope it was the same quality info you're used to. Next report tomorrow as usual.

[SmedIndy]

Are the Twins taking notes from the old Red Sox doctors and training staff?

And "Rush" to injury. First thing I thought of was Geddy Lee. Second thing was Limbaugh. I went with my first thought.

Perhaps a fine would be in order for bats going into the stands? At least on the third occurance in a week?

[cubfan33]

You know, after I sent it, I started thinking of Rush references ...

The sad thing is, the Twins right now are worse off than the old Red Sox and it didnt have to be that way. There's a couple teams in the same situation that I can't talk about yet bc I can't talk about it without giving away a source.