In major league baseball, injuries are a common, almost expected part of the game. If you are an everyday player, you generally play between 135 and 150 games a season. If you are a starting pitcher you may appear in as many as 30-35 games. A reliever can pitch theoretically at around 100 games max.
When we look at all the members of the Mets that have landed on the DL for either parts of the season ( David Wright, Lucas Duda) or other players that are now out for the rest of the season – Matt Harvey, Ike Davis, Johan Santana, Bobby Parnell and most recently Scott Rice you have to scratch your head at how such physically fit players can be so fragile.
Well you can now officially ad my name to the list of the Mets walking wounded. Since March I have had a sometimes sharp, most of the time dull pain in my right shoulder (my writing arm). I figured that it was just a strain, and in time the pain would subside on its own with big quantities of Tylenol as well as larger quantities of alcohol. But no the discomfort got progressively worse to the extent that I would be up half the night trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. So I said to myself maybe I should seek out the Mets trainer, Ray Ramirez.
Ray suggested that I should just ice it down and if all else fails he could lop it off with a machete. Needless to say I ran for the hills when I saw that look of delight in Ray’s eyes. He seemed to want to lop my arm off – was he trying to tell me something without actually saying it?
Next I went to a specialist to whom I was recommended for my pain. She took X-rays which showed no bone spurs or broken bones – to which I breathed a sigh of relief. She scheduled me for an MRI and I got the results back from yesterday. The MRI revealed that I had a partially torn rotator cuff, a slight labrum tear, some leakage from one of my capsules – not sure which one and yes – I HAVE ARTHRITIS !!!!
So needless to say I am not happy with the diagnosis – and I cannot blame Metsmerized’s owner for overuse (DANG IT!). But hopefully with physical therapy, ice packs and if all else fails cortisone shots, I should be feeling better. I wont be going the PED route since I am full of integrity. I promise that I shall write my posts while gutting through this injury. No there will be no 15, 30 or 60 DL stints for me, and hopefully by Opening Day may arm shall be at 100%.
And with that said …. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Mets pitching coach from ’99-’00, Dave Wallace, is 66 (1947).
Reserve catcher from the ’82 season and one time Mets AA manager, Rick Sweet turns 61 (1952).
Reserve outfielder from the ’01 season, Darren Bragg is 44 (1969).
One third of “Generation K”, pitcher Jason Isringhausen is 41 (1972). “Izzy” went on to be a dominant reliever once he was traded from the Mets, abut returned for the ’11 season and pitched quite effectively .
Reserve outfielder from the ’07 season, David Newhan is 40 (1973).
Middle reliever from ’08-’09, Brian Stokes is 34 (1979).
Sadly on this date we lost two members of our Mets extended family. Third baseman from ’66-’67, Ken Boyer in 1982 and middle reliever from the ’67 season, Hal Reniff in 2004.
Some other notables include:
- The New York Mets purchased the contract of pitcher, Galen Cisco from the Boston Red Sox on September 7, 1962. “The Cisco Kid” spent 4 seasons with the Mets mainly as a starting pitcher and compiled a record of 18-43 with an ERA of 4.04.
- The Cincinnati Reds claimed light-hitting back up catcher, Alex Trevino from the Mets on waivers on September 7, 1990.
- Not many fans care to remember when the Mets signed free agent middle reliever, Guillermo Mota on September 7, 1990. That was not a memorable time for the Mets faithful (we generally try to forget about Mets malcontents). Mota actually received his first professional baseball contract from the Mets in 1990.
- The New York Mets signed free agent first baseman, Jorge Toca on September 7, 1998. Many Mets fans may remember Toca as that power hitting Cuban defector that hit pretty well in the Mets minors. But in his brief time with the Mets he proved to be nothing more than a AAAA washout.
Mo Vaughn fantasizes about being bathed in a bathtub of veal parmagiana.
