Thursday, July 7, 2011

Oblique strain could land Pudge on DL

The strained oblique muscle Ivan Rodriguez suffered during batting practice this morning could force the veteran catcher to the disabled list.

Rodriguez felt a pull on his right side during early workouts prior to the Nationals' game against the Cubs. He then aggravated the strain during batting practice and was quickly scratched from the starting lineup, storming off the field after slamming his bat to a bag of balls.

"It happens," he said. "It happened during batting practice, and what can you do? These things happen just like this, and it got me today."

The Nationals initially classified Rodriguez's removal from the lineup as "precautionary" and suggested he would be available to pinch-hit if needed. But the 39-year-old required treatment throughout the afternoon and evening and struggled to put his shirt on after the game.

Rodriguez will be re-evaluated tomorrow once he arrives at the ballpark, but he acknowledged the club can't afford to proceed for long without one of its two catchers.

"I've never experienced this kind of injury. It never happens to me," he said. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. Day-to-day. If tomorrow's not better ... we need a catcher. But let's see what happens tomorrow."

Rodriguez is hitting .214 with two homers, 19 RBI and seven doubles in 39 games this season as a backup to rookie catcher Wilson Ramos. He's 158 hits shy of 3,000 for his career.

8 comments:

JaneB said...

Sounds like Flores ought be packing a bag. I wish Pudge a speedy recovery, and Flores a great ride while he's back up. Seems like we are rich in grown up catchers...maybe someone else needs Flores this month.

Anonymous said...

Jhonatan Solano has been doing very well in Syracuse but he's not on the 40-man.

Anonymous said...

Jhonatan Solano is the right choice. Flores isn't ready ... he's still a ways away in his recovery process.

Dave said...

I'm sorry about Pudge, but three days before the All-Star break is probably a good time for this to happen, if it's going to happen.

Who on the Nats' current 25-man could catch in a pinch? Has Bixler done it before? Seems like he has played every other position.

FS said...

I think Ramos can handle 3 straight games of catching, extra innings or not. After ASB, hopefully Pudge will be back.

Anonymous said...

I think either Morse (can you believe it!?!) or Bixler is our emergency catcher. Hey, let's activate Matt LeCroy!

JaneB said...

Morse? Seriously? That guy gets more amazing to me all the time!

Anonymous said...

Werth was drafted as a catcher. Put him behind the plate so he can watch even more pitches.

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