 |
US Presswire photo Ian Desmond went 1-for-4 with a throwing error last night. |
At 11:15 a.m., Nationals manager Davey Johnson made it sound like Ian Desmond wouldn't be able to play today -- and perhaps for several days -- due to a potential oblique strain.
Thirty minutes later, after some work with the team's physical therapist, Desmond showed up in the Nationals' lineup against the Yankees after all.
"He's got a little nagging injury and, again, it's another one of those side injuries," Johnson said before announcing the lineup. "So if he's not in there, it's because he couldn't get loose."
Johnson said he first learned of the issue following last night's game. Desmond went 1-for-4 and also committed a throwing error after fielding Derek Jeter's seventh-inning grounder deep in the hole at shortstop.
Though the Nationals didn't appear to believe this injury is serious, they didn't seem to want to take any chances of it becoming a long-term concern.
"I've said this 100 times: You win with 25 players, so I'm always very concerned about anybody having a little nagging injury," Johnson said. "I'd rather nip it in the bud ... because it's such a long season and we're just in the infancy with the season. I don't want something like what happened with [Michael] Morse. We had the same thing with [Adam] LaRoche in the spring. I'm kind of gun-shy with these injuries. If I know of something and I don't let somebody else play, I'm the idiot."
If Desmond needed to miss multiple games, Johnson suggested he was likely to shift Danny Espinosa to shortstop and use Steve Lombardozzi at second base. Espinosa, a shortstop in college and through most of his minor-league career, saw a little bit of action on the left side of the infield during spring training for this very reason.
"If it's going to be maybe a couple of days, I'd rather do that than throw Lombo there," Johnson said.
10 comments:
Here we go--Espi at short and Lombo at 2B!
Time for the magic touch of Tatiana.
Instant release and all that.
Might as well rest up a bit now so you can help out down the stretch, Desi. Wouldn't want the skipper to get canned if the team doesn't make the playoffs. (Hi, Davey!)
Let him sit out for a few days. He had a bad game last night with the GIDP and the throwing error. I would love to see Espinosa at short and Lombardozzi at 2B where he would be more comfortable than in left.
Agreed! Let Ian sit and rest. Would luv to see the Lombo-Espi combo!
GYFNG!!!
Be careful what you wish for.
Joe--Always careful of that, by why here?
B/c they might prove an awful or error-ridden combo?
Or they might prove great, thus creating a problem?
Honestly? I like Steve Lombardozzi, but I don't think that he has Espinosa's total package at 2B, his OBP is beginning to go down, his BA is just as skewed from the different sides of the plate as Espinosa's is, Desi's bat has been pretty adequate from the SS position, and if truth be told, if he was as good as Espinosa then Davey would be starting him at second rather then sacrificing LF's defense with his mediocre arm. I'm pretty sure that Espy/Lombo could fill in okay for a few games, but it would be a step backwards long term. Ideally, I'd like to see Davey sit Espy down once a w
Oops,
Anyway, sit espy once week against right handers, and have Lombo play.
I hope the former Desi haters see that he is contributing so much to our team. Yesterday, he got us to extra innings (as he has before). I hope this injury mends fast because a long absence would be dreadful, despite the potential of having Espi and Lombo cover the middle infield. I'm starting to fear this obliques strain thing because it seems to take guys out for a long time. I guess I never noticed it before, in this way.
Post a Comment