Despite taking 2 out of 3 from the San Francisco Giants, the Red Sox leave the West coast with an absolutely disturbing list of new injuries to some star players. On Friday, the Red Sox lost their spark-plug and offensive monster Dustin Pedroia when he fouled a pitch off his foot, one day after a 5-5, 3 home run night in Colorado. On Saturday, the Sox ace Clay Buchholz hyper-extended his knee on the base paths attempting to avoid getting hit by a double-play ball that knocked him out of the game. Then, as if things couldn’t spiral any further, Victor Martinez had to leave Sunday’s game with a broken thumb.
On top of those 3 injuries, Mike Cameron was sore after hitting the wall while making a catch this weekend, leaving him day-to-day for the Sox. When you add the 4 injuries this weekend to the Sox list of already injured players, it is staggering. Just as a refresher, here is the list of injuries to major contributors this season:
SP Josh Beckett, Back Spasms – 15 Day-DL – at least 4 more weeks
SP Clay Buchholz, Hyper-extended Knee – Day-to-Day – may return this week
CF Mike Cameron, Sore – Day-to-Day – still recovering from kidney stones/muscle pull
CF Jacoby Ellsbury, Fractured Ribs – 15 Day-DL – earliest after the All-Star Break
RF Jeremy Hermida, Fractured Ribs – 15 Day-DL – unclear as of now
3B Mike Lowell, Hip Pain – 15 Day-DL – unclear as of now
SS Jed Lowrie, Mononucleosis – 60 Day-DL – potentially some time in early-to-mid July
C Victor Martinez, Broken Thumb – 15-Day DL – unclear, hopefully just 2 weeks
2B Dustin Pedroia, Broken Foot – 15 Day-DL – at least 6 weeks
SP Junichi Tazawa, Sprain of ulnar collateral ligament – Out Indefinitely – out until 2011
The Sox are staggering towards the All-Star Break with half the team they began the season with, but sit just 2 games out of first place in the AL East. The few days off from baseball may be the best gift for the Sox, who hopefully will be getting some key pieces back in the end of July and the beginning of August, just in time for a late season surge. Until that point, Daniel Nava and Darnell McDonald will hold down the fort in the outfield and a combination of Bill Hall and Angel Sanchez will fill-in the infield. As for behind the plate, the Sox will likely call up Gustavo Molina, because he is essentially the only non-injured catcher in the entire system.
Assuming all of the opening day starters recover for the Sox and are able to get back to game speed by August/September, this Sox team could be a force to be reckoned with in the post-season. They are hanging tough through mountains of injuries and are playing with confidence these past several weeks. As long as they stay within striking distance of the AL East lead, you can’t count them out and a team in the post-season that has overcome adversity is a scary team to play. Let’s just hope more injuries don’t crop up between now and then, because the later in the season an injury happens, the more devastating it is to come back from.
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