photo by Sam
It was the second time I'd worried a friend with my initial reaction to a Red Sox injury. "Ohhh, shiiiittt..." I breathed at Facebook, where a link to a story headlined "Pedroia sprains left wrist, day-to-day" sat in my news feed. Like the people I was with at a Lowell Spinners game when Jonathan Papelbon came off the mound clutching his shoulder in 2006, my friend Ryan thought at first I'd received news of a personal emergency.
A good night's sleep later, I'm a little more Zen. A little.
These things happen, especially during camp when players are still improving their conditioning. And if there ever was a tough sonofabitch, it's the guy who hit homers in the World Series with a broken hamate bone.
It's also weird, watching the video of the injury happening. We've seen Pedroia do this a thousand times -- rush into the hole between first and second, sprawl himself out on the ground, vacuum up the ball into his glove, and leap to his feet to throw.
Except this time, Pedroia threw the ball well wide of a ready and waiting Kevin Youkilis at first. Then, he grabbed his wrist.
This wasn't a Hideki Matsui situation. It's not obvious exactly how he managed to hurt himself this time. Maybe, if it was such a routine, mild-looking play, it's a routine, mild injury. (Shh! I'm trying to rationalize, here!)
And if there's a time of year to be nursing injury, it would obviously be early, before pennant races get heated.
Then again, as the Soxaholix points out, not all wrist injuries are created equal, and the bitch of it is that we just don't know if this is going to be a Papi-type wrist situation, which, frankly, would be a nightmare of a bummer for us Pedroia enthusiasts.
Also, if there's a time in Spring Training NOT to get hurt, it would probably be right now -- just as the intensity is ramping up and games grow more serious, as fine-tuning gives way to true preparation for the season. Instead of moving to the next level with teammates, Pedroia will now have a setback to deal with.
It's not the end of the world, but it's not what you want to see, either.
Update:
No sooner do I post this than I see another article pop up: "Pedroia gets a clean bill of health".
The surest sign that Pedroia was as good as the X-rays said was that he was already lobbying Francona to be back in the lineup for Thursday's home game against the Marlins.
"I think what we'll do is let him take BP tomorrow and play him [Friday]," Francona said. "He's OK. There's no swelling. Actually he's a little bit sore higher, which is real good. He got a clean bill of health."
I'll step back from the ledge...until the next thing crops up, at least. Because, of course, you know something always will.
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