Under The Knife 8/30/23

Dog Days Are Over

“Season ending” is a phrase without meaning. If something major happens in March or something minor happens in September, the same phrase is used and equally true. We’re at a point in the season where what was “four to six weeks” is now “season ending.” Context is everything, I often say, and it’s nowhere more true than in this phrase.

Add in a team’s context and it’s even less telling. A team that’s out of it will push a guy to the IL and tell them to start thinking about next year, often letting them go home if they wish, returning only for the exit physicals. (Yes, even injured players will take those. They’re important for a lot of reasons.)

As we’re in that part of the season where “season ending” stops having a meaning, I’ll try to avoid using it, but it creeps in as one of those baseball terms you don’t even think about, like “can of corn.” Who the heck says that, aside from baseball fans? And why? We love it, that’s why, and the lingo is part of it, even when it makes no sense.

For now, on to the injuries:

JULIO RODRIGUEZ, OF SEA (inflamed foot)
TY FRANCE, 1B SEA (bruised wrist)

Few players have been as hot as Julio Rodriguez over August. He has to hate to see the calendar about to flip. It’s not like that Elle McPherson calendar I had as a teenager, where flipping from one month to the next was just a new pose and was just as hot, but I digress. Rodriguez was out on Tuesday with a sore foot. He was a late scratch and the cause of the soreness is unknown. As far as I can tell, he didn’t foul something off, which is painful but usually passing. Please, leave the Jered Kelenic jokes outside.

There’s little use speculating here, but the easiest explanation doesn’t appear in play, leaving everything else. Until we know that, the range is from one day to career ending, though there’s no indication that the Mariners are panicked just yet. Rodriguez hasn’t been sent for additional testing, though with the team at home, the doctor or specialist could have come to him. Needless to say, I’ll be watching this one closely.

As well, the M’s also saw Ty France leave the game in the third inning. No immediate word on the cause, but this might be where he was injured. If it’s a bruise, that should be a minimal time, but France was uncomfortable enough to leave the game, so we’ll have to see how he responds to time and treatment, hopefully not needing too much of either with the Mariners suddenly holding first place in the AL West.

MATT CHAPMAN, 3B TOR (sprained finger)
BO BICHETTE, SS TOR (strained quad)

Toronto lost to Washington, an outcome that a playoff contender can’t have too many times and remain a playoff contender. No offense to the Nats or their fans, but this is a team that the Jays have to beat. Doing it down two key players is tough, but they’ll do that through at least the next nine days, perhaps more, as Bo Bichette returns to the IL and Matt Chapman finally hits the IL with his lingering issue. The whole left side has to be propped up for the duration.