Baseball, Injuries and a Quick Soap Box

Injuries are a fact of sports life. They affect nearly all outcomes are the worry of GMs, managers and fans. In football some injuries can be overcome through depth and strategy others seem more fatal. In basketball injuries rarely can be overcome. The Sun Championship hopes went down in flames with Amare's knee and their chances of beating the Mavs plummeted with Raja Bell's quad. Baseball I would argue is a little different. Baseball has a developmental system that separates out the great systems from merely great teams. Baseball also (well soccer too) allows teams to trade or sometimes purchase other players to bolster a team's chances. This week a series of injuries hit and how severe the injuries turn out to be and how those teams deal is crucial to their playoff hopes

Albert Pujols: Well the Cards and their fans are collectively holding their breath as Albert heals his oblique muscle. For those out there without an oblique muscle that is the thing that allows you to twist - this apparently is important in swinging the bat. The Cards need to hold serve in a matter speaking (i.e. not tank) until the Great One returns. Meantime its puts added pressure on the quiet Cards management to trade for an outfielder to get some run production without their star.

Mariano Rivera: He should be back by tomorrow with no lingering back spasm issue but what if it's reoccurring? Rivera has really been the only thing that seems immune from criticism in New York. Their outfield is already hanging together with bubble gum, shoe string and Macgyver's pocket knife. Rivera being on and off the injured list would result in a city wide suicide watch.

Mike Maroth: Of all the injuries this is currently the most serious. This week Maroth required surgery to remove bone chips in his pitching elbow. Right now the reports out of Detroit claim that he'll be back by August or September. Call me a skeptic (heck call me Ishmael) but I'm doubtful on this one. Surgery on a control pitchers, pitching arm…..Detroit better hope Zach Minor works out or that first playoff berth in 400 centuries might be going down the tubes.

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Soap Box Side Note: For all the problems this country has with race and ethnicity, I'm incredibly thankful and proud that it has limited public sports spillover like in Europe or at least relative to Europe. The NYTimes discusses the unfortunate rise in racist behavior towards black players, specifically in Europe, in ways that are hard to imagine occurring in a professional sports venue in any US city today. As much we expect athletes to act professionally at all times, if any the black players decide to beat the crap out a fan….I fully support it. There are always limits in far fans can go in how they treat opposing players, racist/ethnic slurs are certainly out of bounds. The fact that nonwhites can't safely travel to parts of Germany to enjoy the World Cup is a stain on World Cup and Germany.