NIH: It's been a bad day.
Please don't take a picture.Good god. I was all set to come back from RFK today and do a rundown on those who are starting the season on the DL. See, I've been rather quiet through Spring Training, mostly because I've been trying to get a short story finished up for a rather large contest.
Anyway. I was all set to come home and make that post. Unfortunately that was before the game actually happened. First, let's talk about the medium news. John Patterson started today's game. And he left the game for reasons that had to do with performance rather than injuries. That was, from the perspective of the NIH, the best news that came out of today's game.
And then...Nook Logan happened. Nook strained his groin near the end of Spring Training, but was able to recover very quickly from that, letting him act as the starting center fielder on opening day for the Nationals. Today's injury, it should be said, has nothing to do with that injury. As soon as he hit that wall going after that ball, I had flashbacks to 2005 and Ryan Church slamming into the wall. I thought Nook would be okay, but then he went down. Hard. There's nothing quite so awkward as watching someone hobble off the field from the farthest point from the dugout.
Officially? He hyperextended his foot. He'll be getting an MRI later today and that's all we're going to know until there's a press conference tomorrow. Here's what I will say. He injured his foot. And he walked off the field. Slowly, yes. With a lot of help, yes. But he was able to get off the field without needing a stretcher, and that was on an injured foot. He's not going to play tomorrow, he's probably done for the Marlins series, but this could come and go without him taking a trip to the DL. Which is good, since we've already got outfielders hanging out on the DL. Though it's bad because then we're going to be short handed for a few games, especially because...
Cristian Guzman, in his first game back from a season that was ended by a Spring Training injury, injured himself. It happened while I was standing in three different lines being told that hot dogs were sold out even though other cashiers at the same concession stand were handing people hot dogs. But I'm here to talk about injuries, not the continued problems that the Nationals have getting people food, or ordering enough Opening Day pins so that they don't sell out 20 minutes before the game even starts.
Deep breath.
Guzman, right. He has pull a hammie either while swinging or while taking the first step to first base. I heard to boos from those who thought he was dogging it on what was an easy out for the Marlins, but the Nats were also very quick in sending out a replacement short stop as a pinch runner. Guz is being given a chance to rest the leg, treat it with whatever ballplayers treat legs with, and will be officially poked and prodded before tomorrow's game to determine the extent of the injury. I'm guessing he's out for at least tomorrow but with some rest could see action against the Diamondbacks.
So. Far more exciting of a day at the ballpark in terms of the NIH than I would have liked. Oh, and hey, if the Sports Bog is reading this, thanks for the shout out. Makes me feel guilty that I might not have done as much curling coverage this off season as I would have liked.
posted by thurdl @ 5:33 PM
2 Comments:
I really, really hope you are not being too complacent in saying that "John Patterson started today's game. And he left the game for reasons that had to do with performance rather than injuries." According to Bill Ladson, Patterson may be suffering from "dead arm". He had no life on his fastball, his velocity was down, and he had trouble with his breaking pitches. This sounds very much like what Patterson described as "dead arm" in Toronto last year, which turned out to be part of the nerve problem which ended up requiring surgery. Let's hope - for both Patterson's and the Nats sake - that it was caused by nerves- of the mental kind - and stress, and will be gone by his next start. If not, he should be given another nerve conduction study to see if last year's surgery really did solve the problem. And they shouldn't wait until July to do it!
Well, there is a difference between feeling dead and being a dead arm. At least...I hope there's a difference. The surgery that he had should have fixed any nerve problems that Patterson was having. Sounds to me he needs more work, and not less, and was severly under worked out during the Spring, probably because of fears of him injuring himself.
I think he didn't have his stuff yesterday. I don't think that's an injury problem. But I'm unquestionably keeping a close eye on him.
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