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.






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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.
Posted by: Keith Rowe | April 18, 2009 10:46 PM
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.
Posted by: Scott | April 19, 2009 3:22 AM