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September 5, 2005

Under The Knife

September Changes

by Will Carroll

We're at the stage in the season where two things change the way that UTK works. It's still all--OK, mostly--about the injuries, yet September is different. First, placement on the DL stops being the best indicator of injury. There's no roster-based reason to put someone on the list, so for the most part teams stop doing it. This allows more injuries to be hidden just below the surface, disguised as off days, as playing the prospects, or some other shenanigans.

Also, our focus moves a bit more to the playoff races. Each injury now is magnified. Teams' benches may be deeper, but two weeks now will seem more important than any other. Sure, teams have wins in the bank from healthy, productive periods earlier in the season, but a .550 team turns into a .500 team with one injury, throwing off what we know and think we know. There's no time to recover, there's no margin for error, and one game, win or lose, can make all the difference.

Powered by cardboard boxes--seriously, they're one of the great inventions of all time--on to the injuries:

• "The hambone is connected to the backbone…". Well, that's how the song goes, and it's partially true. There's a big connection between tight, inflexible hamstrings and lower back problems. It also works the other way, with tight backs causing hamstring problems in many athletes. It's likely a contributing factor for Roger Clemens, who left his Saturday showdown with Chris Carpenter after just five innings. Clemens has battled back spasms since just after the All-Star break. They haven't affected his pitching yet, but the Astros' inability to find Clemens extra rest may cost him a bit down the stretch. The big three in Houston may scare teams come a short series, but that little extra expected from them has some short-term consequences.

• There are times when a medical staff gets credited with something they had nothing to do with, and times that they get hit by an injury that really shouldn't count against them. Two cases along these lines involve star NL first basemen.

  Albert Pujols has made it through the entire season generating his typically astounding results despite off-season heel problems. They've shown up a few times, and are bothering him again, but the team will just rest him a couple days, maybe give him some extra treatment and then he'll be back out there terrorizing pitchers. Barry Weinberg and his staff deserve some credit for this, despite the fact that they'll show a lot of injury days at the end of the season.

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