AL Week In Review 8-17-08
- Written by Keith Backer on Sunday, August 17 2008 and posted in Features
The East
Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays suffered two injuries to key players this week. First was Carl Crawford, with a subluxation (don’t ask me, I’m not a doctor) of his right middle finger tendon. He will have surgery to repair the tendon on Thursday. Recovery is expected to be 6-8 weeks, meaning Crawford could miss the remainder of the season. Then Rookie Evan “Don’t call me Eva” Longoria was sent to the 15 day disabled list with a fractured wrist he suffered Monday against the Seattle Mariners after being hit by a pitch. It will be interesting to see what impact these injuries will have the on the team as the season winds down and the race for the division gets hotter.
Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox were also bit by the injury bug this week when Mike Lowell was sent to the disabled list with a strained right oblique muscle. Lowell suffered the injury Wednesday during the unbelievable 19-17 pitchers duel over the Texas Rangers. But the Sox also made a move to shore up their starting rotation by acquiring veteran pitcher Paul Byrd from the Cleveland Indians. Byrd is 7-10 with a 4.53 ERA with the hapless Indians this season.
New York Yankees: Things aren’t looking good in the Bronx. They went 3-7 on a 10 game road trip, Ian Kennedy once again crashed and burned (and didn’t seem to care) in the majors and Hank Steinbrenner has already started talking about 2009. As hard as it is to ever really count the Yankees out, “It’s getting late early” as Yogi would say.
The Central
Chicago White Sox: Yep, the White Sox are still on top, although they briefly lost their grip on the top slot to the Twins this week. And the White Sox haven’t managed to avoid injuries either, as Jose Contreras ruptured his Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season. This adds to a heap of injuries the team has suffered this season and right now they’re scrambling to find another starter. Meanwhile, the Twins smell blood in the water.
Minnesota Twins: Twins manager Ron Gardenhire notched his 600th career victory this week. And the surprising Twins are gaining ground on the White Sox. Amazing, since this team lost Tori Hunter and Johan Santana in the off-season and somehow ended up a better team.
The West
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: They’re still awesome.
Discuss
Posted originally: 2008-08-17 09:38:07