February 28, 2006
Joe Btfsplk
When I was young, there was a comic strip call Lil' Abner. One of the characters was Joe Btfsplk who walked around followed by a cloud, and was considered a jinx. Rick Ankiel is the modern day embodiment of that character. Today, he injured his knee, setting back his attempt to make the majors as an outfielder.
"Yesterday he felt a little twinge in his knee," assistant team physician Robert Shivley said. "It was pretty well localized to the bottom end of his kneecap, in the patellar tendon. We're going to reevaluate him in 10 days, two weeks, and hopefully he'll be ready to go by then."
The 26-year-old Ankiel had been impressive in spring workouts. He batted a combined .259 with 21 home runs and 75 RBI in 85 games split between Double-A Springfield and Class-A Quad Cities last season.
Nothing is ever easy for Rick.
Posted by David Pinto at
06:57 PM
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Injuries
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I use Joe for an avatar in various fora.
I hope for Ankiel's sake that tendon isn't torn. I severed mine a few years ago, and it took the better part of four months before I could get a cast off and start PT. I still have four bits of wire in there which were used to reattach the tendon to the kneecap.
Linkmeister: nice use of Latin!
I feel bad for Ankiel...
Rick Ankiel showed how good a hitter he is by hitting 21 homers in only 85 games. If he played a whole minor league season he would have played in 65 more games and probably hit 35-40 homers. If ever there was a player to root for it is Ankiel and even if he doesn't make the Cardinals this year I think he will make it back to the majors sometime next year.
Rick Ankiel=Clint Hartung?
Call it the Babe Ruth curse. If a player can hit well and pitch well, the ghost of the Babe will come and get him. It's almost like Final Destination or something.
I guess maybe Brooks Kieshnick might be an exception, but he's hardly a player with Ankiel's potential.
