FREAK INJURIES HAPPEN!

There are injuries to get upset about and then there are freak injuries. Unfortunately, some players are susceptible to injuries, in particular soft tissue injuries and that can cause their organizations and their fan base to become frustrated with the frequency of their time on the DL or IR (injured reserve) in other sports. But some injuries are just unpreventable and we have to accept that.

We Yankeees fans have seen plenty of this over the past several years with Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Teixeira, Michael Pineda and others. These guys seem frail and it seems like it's a matter of when, not if, they end up missing time. But at times, the injury is just not their fault and we can't get worked up and blame them for those.

Last August Mark Teixeira fouled a ball off his leg, as pretty much everyone of us who has played baseball has done. It didn't seem like much but after resting for a short period it was discovered that he actually broke a bone in his leg... with a baseball likely traveling at around 100 MPH off his bat. Can you really blame that particular injury on Tex and his injury prone body? Not if you're realistic. It's not a fair assessment.

Jacoby Ellsbury was hit by a pitch on his hand/wrist on Saturday during an exhibition game and was forced to leave the game. Before the results of his X-Rays and MRI came back, some of my Yankee fan friends and acquaintances were already calling him a Sally, and are giving him a hard time. The results of the tests were negative and it's been speculated he will likely rest for a few days before returning to action, but there still isn't movement on that.

Look... first off it's unfair to call a guy a pansy after being hit by a 90-something MPH pitch. I've been hit by 80-something MPH pitch in the elbow and let me tell you it hurt like an SOB. That was the only game I've ever come out of due to an injury. I wasn't a sally, I was hurt!

Some of these guys could be tougher perhaps and the loss of the team's investment can be frustrating of course, but it's not fair for us fans to call a guy a name due to a freak and unpreventable injury. That's baseball. It happens.

Next time before you go calling people names from the comfort of a keyboard for putting their neck on the line, and in Ellsbury's case, giving up his body to make a fantastic catch in the same game, think about the injury. If it was a broken nail, sure but his chops all you want. That'd be fair.

Some guys are just injury prone and it sucks but understand games come with risks and not all things can be avoided.

OK, that's the end of my rant for the day. I'm having a beer. Sam Adams Cold Snap to be precise.

 

--Dan Lucia
BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia

 

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