7 nights ago was awesome.
The US Men’s National Team was wrapping up their opening game of the 2014 World Cup against Ghana (a win!). And ESPN only had a few moments of commentary before cutting directly to their Monday Night Baseball game – a 6 to 2 win over the New York Mets for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Throw in The Bachelor on DVR? A+++ night.
Last night, though… not so awesome.
The USMNT allowed the latest goal in a World Cup in regulation time to draw with Portugal 2-2. Now a result is needed against the World Cup co-favorites Germany on Thursday to ensure a trip to the round of 16.
The Cardinals won… then immediately put 2 of their 5 starters on the DL when Jamie Garcia and (gasp!) Mike Wacha were shelved for shoulder problems.
First, Wahca.
If the USMT was a love tap, then the Wacha news was more of a jump kick to the groin. Shoulder problems with pitchers, in a way, are more worrisome than elbow issues. Said the guy who has zero medical training.
But doesn’t it seem like when it’s a shoulder injury, it can be a months or years process to get everything right (if it ever gets right), but players with elbow injuries are examined, diagnosed and in the O.R. before you even finish reading the blog post about how this will effect (Team X’s) rotation?
Jamie Garcia is a perfect example.
Dude hasn’t been right for 3 years now. Since the beginning of 2012, he’s started 36 games for the Cardinals. In the past 2 years, 16. The team is on the hook for 7.75M this season and 9.25M next season. Plus a 1M buy out of his two options for ’16 and ’17.
It’s not like he hasn’t tried things. He had labrum surgery last season. But still – it wasn’t enough. He’s back on the DL and things aren’t trending in the right direction:
https://twitter.com/tmckernan/status/481071004203364352
It’s way too soon to guess on Mike Wacha and what his shoulder issues are. And it’s not as if every single pitcher with shoulder issues has had the same fate as Jamie. But on the doorstep of a critical west coast trip, the news seems to kill a decent little vibe the team had going this past home stand.
Best of luck to both of them.
Photo: Snap-Online
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