Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Okajima Melts Down as Papi Goes on the DL

Monday was a truly awful day for the Red Sox, and not just on the field.

Hideki Okajima entered the game on Monday against the Orioles as the Sox had a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning. He had absolutely nothing, as he allowed four runs, including a bases loaded double to Adam Jones. A fine outing from Tim Wakefield went totally to waste, and it also included Manny Ramirez' 502nd home run, and his third in as many games. Baltimore won, 6-3.

As bad as that was, the news after the game was truly terrible. I was watching the game on the MLB package tonight, and the Oriole announcers had the game. They said early on that the Red Sox would make an announcement on David Ortiz, who had returned to Boston for an MRI, after it was over. I could hear the bells tolling.

And toll they did. The Red Sox announced that Big Papi was being put on the DL, and would probably miss at least a month. Papi has a partially torn sheath of his left wrist, and the tendon in his wrist is not torn, so it appears that surgery is not likely. Surgery would most likely end his season.

Ortiz will be in a cast for two weeks. It will take another 10 to 14 days to begin swinging the bat and getting into playing condition.

It's a big blow to the Red Sox. But championship teams find ways to win. Thank goodness the Sox did not trade Coco Crisp, as Manny Ramirez will probably DH more, along with J.D. Drew. Brandon Moss should be back soon as well, as he's back playing with Pawtucket (and hit three HRs the other night).

Get well soon, Big Papi.

3 comments:

Steel36 said...

Depth is tested at times like this. Manny goes to DH, Coco Crisp can play the OF. His bat can come and go, but he is a better defender than Manny (being honest)

At least it is not a self inflicted wound like The Yanks moving Joba The Hutt to the rotation. He is a shutdown 8th inning guy-about the only really functional thing on that team.

Can you imagine if Joba gets 7 good innings and Kyle Farnsworth (yikes) comes in and blows it??

The Red Sox are not that screwed...

BklynSoxFan said...

The Yankees are making a big mistake with Chamberlain, and leaving the 8th inning to guys like Farnsworth and Hawkins is a recipe for disaster. But if that's what they want to do...

I'm praying Papi's injury isn't worse than it's being made out to be. The Sox have depth, and should ultimately be OK. They survived losses last season of Beckett, Schilling, and Ramirez last season for stretches.

And won it all.

Michael Leggett said...

At Professor Thom's & The Hairy Monk, we did not get stuck with Thorne In The Side, but had the NESN Feed