St. Louis Cardinals infielder Felipe Lopez took the mound with a sore elbow, not disclosing pre-existing discomfort until afterward. Was he tough or careless?
St. Louis Cardinals infielder Felipe Lopez was considered a hero at the time Saturday night when he took the mound to pitch a scoreless 18th inning in the eventual 20-inning loss to the New York Mets.
Unfortunately, there is an unpleasant sidebar to this story as the veteran has been out of action since Monday due to elbow discomfort. That same pain is what caused Lopez to opt out of pitching a second frame on Saturday night.
What makes matters worse is that Lopez first hurt his right, throwing elbow the week prior in Milwaukee but did not disclose his injury to trainers. Had team officials known that, not only would the player have received more prompt treatment, he most likely would not have been allowed to risk further damage by pitching last weekend.
While manager Tony La Russa has been second, third and fourth-guessed over his managerial decisions in that game, he made it clear he had no prior knowledge of Lopez’ elbow soreness.
The severity of the injury is being downplayed, with Lopez potentially being available for this weekend’s series in San Francisco. What if that is not the case, however?
Rob Rains of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat penned an interesting piece about the Cardinals history of using non-pitchers on the mound. It is well worth the read but it does not acknowledge injuries incurred when players not conditioned to pitch end up doing just that.
While the Cardinals may have avoided high-profile cases of position player mound injuries to date, the story of Jose Canseco may best illustrate the ugly underbelly of this kind of maneuver.
While with Texas on May 30, 1993, Canseco took to the mound in mop-up duty for the Rangers. He injured his right elbow on his second pitch, but continued to throw a total of 33 that day. A torn ligament meant reconstructive surgery and a ruined season for the “Juiced” slugger.
As often happens in sport, we see in the Lopez case a blurring of the line between “manning up” and being smart. The potential detriment to both the player and team of anything less than full disclosure of injuries is considerable.
Here is hoping this is the last we hear of problems with Lopez’ elbow.
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As long as Lopez doesn’t try to convert himself into a horrendous knuckleball pitcher in the independent leagues after his hitting skills have eroded, I’ll be happy.
You forget that we have Lugo to fall……………oops.
Tim L. is one of the most engaging pitchers in baseball. The trick to beating him, and some do, is to not engage him. Make him stay in the strike zone. Don’t try to do to much. Base runners bother him. He can be set up if your wait for him. Think Lohse in Arizona…………. meat. Just stand there until he throws it where you like. And he will.
Skip and Albert got a taste. He went to some trouble to establish the fastball. He can be reached. Garcia has to keep them close until they do. Double………oh boy.
He was wary of Colby. Colby is a little more closed today. Noticeably. He is setting a trap me thinks. Baiting Timmy for a fastball on the hands. Walk is good…….. Ah….. pressure by Yadi.
The best pitch Ryan swung at was the high curve……..good chance for a sac fly….over swinging after that. Garcia isn’t going for contact, he wants to splash one……..Jeeeeeeeeeeeezz
Skip had very “measured” hands speed through the zone……. that medium swing is what he needs to use always. Or slower. Its getting to Timmy………………..That is embarrassing. Holiday goes for contact 3/0………what???????????????? That is whats killing this team You see your pitch…..and you crank. If you miss…..fine…..foul……fine…….distort the swing for contact…stupid.-=====
Garcia is impressive. Doesn’t have his best stuff, shitty defensive suport, no offense. But he’s not letting them run him off the mound. Not melting down. Going to be hard to get to Lincecum.
[...] For at least the fourth time this year, The Cardinal Nation Blog has been selected as FOXSports.com’s Blog of the Day, achieved through this site’s association with Yardbarker. What brought the recognition was the Felipe Lopez pitching comparison to Jose Canseco, “Did Lopez risk a “Canseco” by pitching injured?” [...]
Nice going Brian. Nice article. Maybe someday there will be a laptop on the wall next to Jack’s microphone.
That pitch Lincecum threw to get Schu looks like a screwball. The slo-mo showed the rotation and the movement away from the lefty. They call it something else though, but it definitly wasn’t a tailing fastball.
That last strikeout of Albert sounded like a WC post. Scouts are watching. Holiday for the second time in a row is jammed. I’m leaving in the morning for a couple of games.
Have a cold one for me Westy, and a chile cheese tofu dog on a stick or whatever they have out there. I’ll be scanning the crowd for a guy taking notes.
The Roster matrix has Ottavino back as a starter for Memphis, after having been moved to the relief pitcher column the other day. Maybe he pulled a Zambrano and they decided they mis-characterized the situation.
bb, you, sir, have an eagle eye. Missing turns in the rotation did not mean Ottavino has been moved to relief. I have a Hot News post about it on the main site.
Thank you for the kind comment, but it wouldn’t be my laptop…
WestCoast, safe travels on the… West Coast… and maybe bring the good guys a couple of wins to keep that series streak going…
I’m taking a friend that I took to Paris. She knows nothing about……….baseball. Perfect!
Another exam of Lopez’ injured elbow is planned…