The Bump and The Grind

This might be a random collection of events, but taking the mound against the Cubs has had it's risks. It dawned on me that we've seen some season ending injuries happen to our opponents pitchers. Coincidence? Or Death Cab for Cutie?

Follow the link to the pitchers who've risked entering the valley of shadows:

Tom Glavine -- He's had two rough starts against the Cubs and immediately landed on the DL each time. His diagnosis is a strained left pitching elbow, supposedly a tear in flexor tendon origin. This second episode occurred after two months of attempted nonsurgical rehab. It almost definitely ends his season and possible starts his 5 year clock to make it to the Hall of Fame. If he ops for surgery at age 42, who knows what else will break down. Glavine had never been on the DL before this season. Father time has finally caught up with him.

Chris Carpenter -- Reinjured his pitching arm last sunday (video link) and is again on the DL. He was matching pitches (with his signature low pitch count) through 5 innings against Ryan Dempster (with his signature high pitch count).  The diagnosis is triceps strain which is the muscle/tendon on the back side of the arm. Basically, it's not his reconstructed collateral ligament but all the anatomy around the elbow is closely related. Given his history the Cardinals need to be very worried about a quick return with only 6 weeks left in the season. This was his third start back after a 1-1/2 years of rehabbing two elbow surgeries including an elbow scope for arthritis followed by a "Tommy John" ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction procedure when it was clear the first surgery had not helped. The Cardinals were counting on their one time "ace" to give them the boost to make the playoffs after the team has played incredibly well given that everyone had written their season off in preseason polls. Now back on the DL, it looks like the redbirds last pitching hope is limited to Adam Wainright's recovery as Carpenter, Mulder and Matt Clement are ticketed for the land of #22 and perpetual rehab.

Yovani Gallardo -- Ripped his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) on this play during the game May 1st, it was a major blow to the Brewers rotation for at least May and June. The injury subsequently cost the Brewers last years first round draft pick, Matt LaPorta, to replace him with someone even bigger than Prince Fielder. Prince has said that he is Sabathia's "mini-me". Or Fielder at least thinks of Sabathia as one very big potato. Gallardo's injury was a significant timeline change, thus Capt Kirk and Mr. Spock are still looking for McCoy and Joan Collins to rectify things. Gallardo just started light tossing and won't resurface until next spring.

To be honest, this hit list is based on a fairly flimsy argument since Carpenter and Glavine's aging arms were hanging on with duct tape, but still it begs the question: Who's Next?