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April 18, 2009

Deciphering injury reports

When you've been in this business awhile, you become pretty jaded about the way teams report injuries. After Matt Wieters pulled up on Friday night after a first-inning single against the Gwinnett Braves, the early indication was that he suffered some kind of hamstring strain.

Not that complicated.

The Orioles and Norfolk Tides, clearly aware of the heightened fan interest in Wieters, tried to water it down by calling it a "hamstring cramp" while waiting for him to be re-examined today. Now, the injury has been upgraded slightly to a mild strain, but team officials continue to say he'll be out only a day or two.

Maybe I'm crazy, but it has been my experience that guys who come back in two or three days from hamstring strains usually end up on the disabled list, like Melvin Mora did this past week.

Nobody's lying here or trying to put anything over on anybody. It's just the industry standard to soft sell injuries until it is obvious they are more significant. In this case, you have to believe the organization will handle Wieters with kid gloves and keep him on the sidelines for a week or more to make sure the hamstring is 100 percent healed. It's not like those Triple-A games count in the AL East standings.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:52 PM | | Comments (2)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Comments

Pete,

Really hope your right, I can't imagine with how overprotective we're being with our baby birds they would rush Matt back! He's far too valuable to take ANY chances, particularly in AAA.

Its not like anybody in Birdland should really be paying attention to the AL East standings this year. We just need to suck it up, enjoy the summer at Camden Yards and wait until our young guns move up and take over in the next few years.

I'm a 20-year-old student at Penn State and every time people ask me "why I support the O's" i just swallow my pride and remember that one of these days, things will go back to the way they were in 1983...even if it means a few years like '88 (the year I was born)

Peter, sometimes I wish our fans realized there's more to baseball than winning...its about Boog's BBQ, the dirt on the uniform, and the name on the front of the jersey. Just go to the park and enjoy every minute, regardless of the score.

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About Peter Schmuck
Peter Schmuck wants you to know that, contrary to popular belief, he is more than just a bon vivant, raconteur and collector of blousy flowered shirts. He is a semi-respected journalist who has covered virtually every sport -- except luge, of course – and tackled issues that transcend the mere games people play. If that isn’t enough to qualify him to provide witty, wide-ranging commentary on the sports world ... and the rest of the world, for that matter ... he is an avid reader of history, biography and the classics, as well as a charming blowhard who pops off on both sports and politics on WBAL Radio. That means you can expect a little of everything in The Schmuck Stops Here, but the major focus will be keeping you up to the minute on Baltimore’s major sports teams and themes, whether it’s throwing up the Orioles lineup the minute it’s announced or updating you on the latest sprained ankle in Owings Mills. Oh, and by the way, that’s Mr. Schmuck to you.

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