May 12, 2006
Godzilla vs. Loretta
Hideki Matsui may be out for the season:
Hideki Matsui fractured his left wrist on a first-inning play, and the Yankees' iron-man leftfielder might miss the rest of the season, general manager Brian Cashman said. His injury ruined the night, and to further sour it for Yankees fans, the home team fell to the Red Sox, 5-3, at Yankee Stadium.
Matsui suffered the fracture when he tried to make a sliding catch of Mark Loretta's line drive. He spent the night at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, where he will undergo corrective surgery this morning.
Hideki never missed a game since he joined the Yankees, and his streak of consecutive games goes back into his days playing Japanese baseball. That puts two thirds of the Yankees outfield on the disabled list. It looks like we'll see a lot of Bubba Crosby and Melky Cabrera in the outfield.
Damon was hurt in the game also:
Last night, the Yankees couldn't overcome both the early loss of Matsui and a substandard effort by starting pitcher Shawn Chacon. Despite benefiting from some great defense - Johnny Damon aggravated injuries to his left shoulder and left foot when he ran into the centerfield wall snaring Doug Mirabelli's fourth-inning blast; Crosby robbed Mike Lowell of a two-run homer - and receiving a 3-1 lead, Chacon couldn't make it through the fifth inning.
This reminds me of 1975, when the Yankees outfielders fell like flies and two catchers (including Munson) were playing the corner outfield positions.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:03 AM
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Injuries
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Let me go on record to say that Matsui's injury shouldn't have been shown in slow motion last night. As soon as I saw it, I got queasy. Who approves these things? Not since Alou's leg injury have I been so sickened by seeing a body part move in a way it was never intended to move.
NY POST: "I hurt my [left] shoulder and [right] foot again," said Damon, who crashed into the center-field fence taking an extra-base hit, possibly a home run, away from Doug Mirabelli in the fourth. "They are hurting pretty good. Hopefully, they aren't where they were. It's definitely not a good feeling."
NY DAILY NEWS: The star center fielder was wincing after the play and later acknowledged at his locker that he had "reinjured" both his left shoulder and right foot. [...] Damon appeared at his locker with a huge ice pack on his shoulder. As he hit the wall last night after catching Mirabelli's liner, Damon's left shoulder appeared to take the brunt of the impact. But he played through pain the second half of last season with Boston, and both Joe Torre and Damon's former manager, Terry Francona, have lauded his toughness and durability. "My shoulder had been healing up pretty good," Damon said. "It definitely was not a good feeling."
Damon typically plays through these injuries, but the Empire has to be shaken.
It's pretty insulting to Williams that he is not mentioned in most of the articles discussing who will play for Matsui and Sheff. But after that missed fly that turned into a double and the winning runs, maybe that's understandable.
It's shouldn't be insulting to Williams because he just plain sucks this season. Don't get me wrong, I love Bernie and what he's done for the Yankees over the years, but at this point in his career, he should just call it a day. He can't hit and he can't field. We already have a guy like that - his name is Cairo. How many players like that does one team need on their roster?
Wait - I thought players who stayed away from the WBC were immune from injury!
I heard Brian Cashman interviews on ESPN after the injury and he actually announced that the Yankees will continue to play the remainder of the season in spite of Matsui's injury. It seems, with the way this injury was covered, that most folks thought the entire baseball season was done.
The Yankees are not the first team, nor the last, to lose a starter to injury for several months. Get over it. I'm sure Matsui will.
Actually, the Yankees have a few players who can't hit ot field, Sabernar - Cairo, Cabrera, Williams, Phillips, Stinnet and Crosby. Wait, I think that's their entire bench. Today Cashman said the Yanks would fill Matsui's injury with players already on the roster. What do you guys think the over/under on that is - 3 games? 2? I bet Abreau is the Yanks property within a week.