Injured Twins poised for Opening Day return

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,

When the Minnesota Twins arrived in Florida in mid-February, they put a new spin on the purpose of the preseason. The point of Spring Training is to get back into shape after the winter, but for the Twins, it was an opportunity to recover from some serious injuries to key players. All of catcher Joe Mauer, first baseman Justin Morneau and closer Joe Nathan are back in action and look like they’ll be ready to play come Opening Day.

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Zack Greinke to start on DL with injured rib

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,

Due to an extreme game of pick-up basketball, Zack Greinke has a hairline fracture in a rib on the left side of his body and will likely start the MLB season on the disabled list. Fans of the right-hander in Milwaukee will have to wait a few more weeks before they see their new ace in a Brewers uniform. It’s the latest mini-tragedy for a team who has had more than their fair share of them over the last 30 years.

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Rick DiPietro out again with busted face

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, NHL,

Whenever it seems like things could not get worse for the New York Islanders, things get worse for the New York Islanders. The latest blow came on Friday when the team announced that top goaltender Rick DiPietro is going to miss the next four-to-six weeks. This occurred after DiPietro got into a fight with Penguins goalie Brent Johnson, or more accurately, he got into a punch. Johnson skated the length of the ice, threw one left hook and DiPietro was finished.

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Hand gestures and hits from behind worth equal suspensions

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, NHL,

Colin Campbell was busy on Tuesday, handing out a number of suspensions. Among the hit list was James Wisniewski of the Islanders for his obscene gesture towards Sean Avery, as well as Niklas Hjalmarsson on Chicago for his blind hit from behind against Jason Pominville, which resulted in Pominville's being carried off the ice on a stretcher. Both Wisniewski and Hjalmarsson were suspended for a pair of games for their individual and fundamentally different rule infractions.

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Josh Hamilton finds new injuries in ribs

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,

When Josh Hamilton crashed into the wall while catching a Delmon Young fly ball on Sept. 4, he probably wasn’t thinking about the injuries he might sustain. Now, almost three weeks later, it’s been revealed that he has two fractured ribs and may be out of the Rangers’ lineup for more than just the rest of this season. Hamilton is still hardly able to rotate his body, much less swing a bat, and his recovery continues to stall.

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Jed Lowrie making the best of unique situation with the Boston Red Sox

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, MLB,

Jed Lowrie has been receiving some extra playing time with the Red Sox. He’s been given first base duties while Manager Terry Francona tries to figure out what to do with the vacancy created by the injury to Kevin Youkilis. Primarily a shortstop or second baseman, Lowrie has just been doing as he’s told in order to keep his team in the playoff race. The Sox remain a handful of games back of Tampa Bay and New York, but are having difficulty gaining ground.

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Scott Podsednik traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, MLB, Trades,

Scott Podsednik is moving west… again. The 34-year-old outfielder was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This will be Podsednik’s sixth major league team that he has played for, including two stints with the White Sox. The Dodgers picked up the veteran while giving back two prospects – catcher Lucas May and right-hander Elisaul Pimentel – to the Royals. Podsednik made his Dodgers debut on Thursday night, going 0-for-3 with a walk, strikeout, stolen base and error.

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A.J. Burnett Lies About Hand Injury

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,

A.J. Burnett is having a tough season. It continued in his latest start on Saturday, when he went two innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. After the second, he disappeared into the clubhouse only to return with a cut above his right hand which he told Yankees manager Joe Girardi that he fell down stairs and ended up staying in the game for two more batters. Afterwards, he admitted he lied to the manager and said he really cut his hand when he slammed open double doors with a Plexiglas cover.

Burnett took ownership and apologized for lying to Girardi, but that may have had as much to do with maturity as it does his wearing a Yankees uniform. Frankly said, the Yankees will not tolerate that behavior. Things might have been different if he were still in Florida or Toronto or anywhere else for that matter, but he is a New York Yankee and excellence is not only the goal of everybody in the organization, it is also expected.

Burnett is no stranger to injuries, having landed on the DL almost a dozen times in his career, but none have been quite like this. Luckily for him, the cut is just above the wrist and not on his fingers. If so, he could really have had some difficulty holding the baseball. Regardless though, the two hitters he threw to after taking the mound in the third both reached base. At that point, Girardi came out with the hook.

It is hard to love a guy like Burnett. His dragon-like behavior is as temperamental as his arm and you never quite know what he’s going to be like both on the mound and off. Saturday was one of those double-bad days as his arm got him into trouble then his attitude made it worse before his arm completely derailed him. Burnett isn’t supposed to miss his next start, but there will be some hard looks going his way when he does take the mound again, and he’ll deserve every one of them.

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Over again before it started for McGowan

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,

Dustin McGowan, the injury-prone permanent resident on the DL for the Toronto Blue Jays has seen another setback. After going down with shoulder labrum surgery in July of 2008, McGowan attempted a comeback but had to cut that short after knee surgery in 2009. Before this season began, all signs were optimistic for the right-hander, but he was shut down in March with a “dead arm”, and an MRI earlier this week put the nail in the coffin for this season.

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Sizemore’s bum knee is Cleveland’s bum year

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,

Who said the Cleveland Indians need Grady Sizemore? After learning that he’ll miss the remainder of the 2010 season, Cleveland annihilated the White Sox 10-1 on Friday night. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Sizemore is gone. As a fan favorite, three-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner, and one-time Silver Slugger, losing Sizemore adds injury to insult, and you have to wonder how much more insult Indians fans are willing to take.

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