Archive - Apr 15, 2008

Déjà Vu all over again, Alfonso? For the second time in two years during mid April, Cubs star left fielder Alsonso Soriano injured a leg.

Last year he missed just a week from a mild left hamstring strain on April 16th. He returned to the lineup by April 22nd but was limited in his running as well as his outfield play for a few weeks after that injury.

Here was the immediate reaction to last April's injury on cubs.com:

...his status is day-to-day. The center fielder was injured when he dove trying to catch Clay Hensley's single with one out and a runner at second in the fifth. "I don't like to be hurt," Soriano said. "I like to play every day. We'll see how I feel tomorrow."

This isn't to be confused with his more significant right quadriceps strain last August 6th. I vividly remember seeing Soriano pull up lame after rounding 2nd base against the Mets in the game Tom Glavine got his 300th win. Third base coach Mike Quade helped Alfonso off the field that evening. Soriano returned to action by August 28th.

In last night's game vs the Reds, while making the third out in the top of the 1st inning by catching a flyball from Ken Griffey Jr. and doing his signature hop to make the catch, Soriano once again came up lame. He needed to use CF Felix Pie to limp off the field. In the bottom of the inning he was replaced by Mike Fontenot with Mark DeRosa taking his spot in LF.

Again cubs.com says (Carrie Muskat must have a macro key for her Word application regarding this stuff. Ironically, when she hits the F7 key, the macro spits out something about being day-to-day):

Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano had to leave Tuesday's game after the top of the first inning with a strained right calf. His status was day-to-day.

This time the preliminary diagnosis is a strained right calf. To recap the anatomy, the quadriceps is the major muscle in the front of the thigh. The hamstrings are the muscles behind the thigh. The larger muscles that make up the calf are the gastrocnemius which is more superficial and the deeper soleus which blend together as they go toward the lower portion of the leg until they connect with the achilles tendon. They are responsible for pushoff in running activity. Just like any other muscle injury they are graded by extent of injury, rarely need surgery and usually take from 2-6 weeks to heal.They shipped Soriano off for an MRI Tuesday night so the results will be available in the morning. Hearing Lou Piniella on the postgame interview, he didn't sound optimistic with the most recent comp injury being Phillie OF Shane Victorino who was put on the 15 day DL the day after his calf strain on Saturday. Matt Murton, Jake Fox or Eric Patterson...please check your answering machines.

It could be worse. The Ides of April ruined the 2006 Season on April 19th when Scott Eyre fielded a Raphael Furcal bunt. The sooner they get this month over with the safer I will feel.

UPDATE: It's official.  Eric Patterson gets the call-up as Fonzie goes on the 15 day DL. Stay tuned for the Patterson brothers reunion deathmatch tonight.

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP	Aaron Harang	SP	Ryan Dempster
	1-1, 2.45, 15 K, 5 BB		1-0, 0.69, 10 K, 4 BB
CF	Dusty Baker	LF	Lou Piniella
SS	Dusty Baker	SS	Lou Piniella
RF	Dusty Baker	1B	Lou Piniella
2B	Dusty Baker	3B	Lou Piniella
LF	Dusty Baker	RF	Lou Piniella
3B	Dusty Baker	2B	Lou Piniella
1B	Dusty Baker	C	Lou Piniella
C	Dusty Baker	CF	Lou Piniella
P	Aaron Harang	P	Ryan Dempster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What say you? The players play the game and the managers are just overpaid babysitters? Pshaw! This is war, baby! The very fabric of Cubdom lies in the balance. The past vs the future; Dude vs Fella, Right vs Wrong!!! Pick a side, but choose wisely - for the faith of the Cubs world lies in the balance. (Tribal yell as I grab my gun off the wall!)

This also marks the less-public return of Corey Patterson, who's leading the Reds in home runs, rbi's and runs right now. Derrek Lee leads the Cubs in those same categories. One of those scenarios has a chance to remain true by the end of the season. Felix Pie is also back in the lineup and gets to face Aaron Harang after getting about 5 AB's in the last week. Good luck with that.

 

I just wanted to give a shout out to our friends at Inside the Ivy. Steve Holley is going to be live blogging from the Iowa Cubs game in New Orleans. This isn't your normal live blog though, as he'll be using "Cover it Live" so that readers can submit questions as the game goes on. Scout.com is usually subscription-based, but they're opening this one up for everyone, so head on over and get your questions answered on the Triple-A Cubs. The game starts at 7pm Central, but he'll start about an hour before game time. If you can't make it today, he'll be doing this for the entire series.