Brent Dlugach’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Few Days
By Brian Phair
What a start to 2011 for infielder Brent Dlugach. First, on Saturday, in live pitcher batting practice, Dlugach gets beamed in the butt by Bobby Jenks, not causing any long-term physical damage besides a bruise, but certainly an embarrassing situation. Then, in his debut with the Red Sox on Monday, he commits 2 errors in the 1st three innings, along with grounding into 2 double plays. The final chapter of his tough few days was today with an unfortunate injury. Dlugach went after a bunt in the 5th inning against the Minnesota Twins, only to suffer a seperated (dislocated) shoulder. Talk about a tough few days…
Dlugach was a long-shot to make the Red Sox major-league roster in 2011, because of Jed Lowrie‘s versatility and Mike Cameron and Jason Varitek‘s guaranteed spots on the bench. That being said, you have to feel for Dlugach, who is working his butt-off (no pun intended) to impress his coaches and get better in order to increase his overall value and make the bigs. The extent of the injury is unknown at this point, with tests scheduled for Tuesday night and Wednesday, but I certainly wish him the best and hope this doesn’t sideline him for any extended period of time. He wants more than anyone to get back out on the field and prove his value.
If sympathy gets Dlugach some attention, he is on the right path, because Terry Francona felt bad for the 27-year old. “You feel bad. Kid’s coming in trying to show what he can do. We’ll get some scans and do some follow up stuff tomorrow and then see what he needs to do.”
For all the latest news and analysis from BoSox Injection, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or with our RSS feed.