St. Louis Cardinals All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks with a non-displaced fracture of his left radius, or forearm. That’s according to a press release from Cardinals.com.
Don't panic ... just yet anyway! It could have been worse.
The injury occurred an inning after he hit a monster home run giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Wilson Betemit collided with the slugger, who fell to the ground in pain and hushed a stunned Cardinals nation.
Joe Strauss explained the play a little more:
The collision occurred after [Pete] Kozma, typically a shortstop, ranged toward the bag, backhanded Betemit’s grounder and made a twisting leap that allowed him to throw across his body. A regular second baseman might have set and delivered, as [Tony] La Russa later suggested. But Kozma’s throw tailed, drawing Pujols’ glove into the baseline, where Betemit met him full bore.
I don’t think this was Kozma’s fault, as many have suggested. It’s game and that’s how it’s played. I’m sure Kozma feels bad enough about this without an entire fan-base dogging him.
Linked above, here is the full text of the press release from the Cardinals on Pujols:
ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 20, 2011 — Results from today’s MRI and CT-scan of St. Louis Cardinals All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols showed a non-displaced fracture of his left radius (forearm). Pujols was placed in a splint and will likely be sidelined from 4 to 6 weeks. Pujols’ left shoulder was sore, but no structural damage was determined at this time. The Cardinals will announce a roster move prior to tomorrow night’s series opener with the Philadelphia Phillies. Pujols has only been on the disabled list twice previously: June 2006 for a left oblique strain and June 2008 for a left calf strain.
While I know the organization is going to be very cautious with Pujols, hopefully he has a very speedy recovery and comes back ready for the already under way second half to the season. I don’t think this is a doom and gloom scenario. It’s bad, but things could always be worse.
The signing of Lance Berkman looks better and better, doesn’t it!
Miranda Remaklus is lead St. Louis Cardinals contributor for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. Follow her on Twitter, @missmiranda
I feel like to some degree, I shouldn’t be surprised. Being injury prone as a team is brutal! But, like you said, I don’t blame this all on Kozma. Ok, so his throw was off. But if we start hating on every young guy that comes up and makes a mistake, they’re going to feel even more pressure to be perfect. I like Pete (maybe it’s because I watched him play single A ball!) and I don’t want him to take the brunt of fan frustration in this situation.
As for Albert…well, we’ve somehow survives sans-Wainwright, so I’m hopeful we will have guys step up now to fill in that gap, too. The silver lining? At least he went down after Holliday came back!
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If you haven’t checked in a while, the panic on twitter is at an epic level. People are coming out of their padded rooms inciting panic, even suggesting that Freese should be rushed. Like David Freese needs rushing. Come on! He needs as much time as he can get, he is quite delicate. I want him to be overly healthy when he returns. Put him in a bubble please!
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We are all going to DIE!
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Either hush, or join the Twitter crowd. With comments like that, you’ll fit right in with some over-the-top, overreacting fans.
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Oh, and
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Ahhhhhh!!! Weren’t we out of it when Holliday got injured? When Freese went down? Heck, the season wasn’t even going to start when Waino got hurt. Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I don’t think it’s time to jump off bridges!
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Remember when Albert turned down the Cardinals’ contract offer this spring? On this very blog I wrote a post entitled “We are all going to Die!” And now I post a Pujols-related comment again asserting “We are all going to Die!”
Eventually, just like those nutters proclaiming a date for the Rapture, I’m going to be right, and yes, something Albert-involved will, in fact, cause the death of us all.
As far as Twitter goes, I wish I could write a macro that would change every single tweet that changes the words “Albert Pujols” to, I don’t know, “Amy Winehouse.”
Imagine how Twitter would read then.
… I’ll get to work.
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This Amy Winehouse obsession of yours is more than a little frightening.
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will smith divorce jada pinkett…
[...]I wouldn’t be ready to go after all of these diverse targets whilst concurrently dedicating the electricity [...]…
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