Yankees Chick - News, Rumors, and Opinions on the Bronx Bombers From a Brunette Babe

Honestly, my friends/enemies/people that actually stumble upon this blog while Googling "Stray-Rod"... The Yanks are one injury away from me becoming convinced that some crafty and clearly nefarious Red Sox fans have turned to some variety of witchcraft to cast a hex upon the team. We've already muddled (with limited success) through injuries sustained by Matsui, Moose, Wang, Rasner, Karstens, Hughes (who, incidentally, injured his ankle while rehabbing his hammy and will likely not be available until the end of July), Damon, and of course the perennial hometown hero Carl Pavano, and the steady stream of bad bodily luck is showing no signs of slowing. Not one, not two, but three new injuries have afflicted the already hobbled Yanks this week.

Giambi was the first to go down, and while that was not particularly shocking - he's been wrestling with that pesky bone spur all season - the diagnosis and estimated time out came as a disappointment. It turns out that the trouble was not just a bone spur but plantar fasciitis and a partial tear of his plantar fascia, an injury that could sideline him for anywhere from 6 weeks to the remainder of the season - and with the Yankees' track record for injury recovery my guess would be that Giambi will miss the next 198 games. Injury #2 is a frightening-sounding fatigued groin affecting Mr. God-Please-Save-This-Team-You're-Our-Last-Hope

Clemens, which, while not (yet) a DL-necessitating injury, does push back his start date. He was slated to start tomorrow's game in Chicago, but after his workouts last week he determined that his poor groin was just too tired to make the start. The criminally overworked team of Yankees medical experts will be examining the Rocket this week to determine how much rest his exhausted groin will need before he can hop back on the mound and start pitching again. As disheartening as Giambi's foot trouble and Clemens' setback are, the injuries sustained by Mientkicantspellhisname

during yesterday's game at Fenway are the most heart-wrenching of this trifecta. Mienky was knocked down and out by reported off-season pal Mike Lowell's knee when Lowell was motoring in to 1st to beat out a double-play ball; he was wheeled out on a stretcher after laying motionless on the field for a few minutes and was later determined to have a mild concussion, cervical sprain and a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist. According to the ESPN announcers during today's game, he will probably be out for the next 6 weeks. Everyone seems to love Mienky, and its a bummer to lose our defensive first baseman to a pure accident.

In a strange turn of events, there is a small part of me that feels that the injuries to Giambi and Mientky could force the Yankees to make some interesting moves. Damon was shown practicing at first base before the game today, indicating the possibility of him taking over at first at some point, putting Melky in the outfield on a daily basis. In that scenario, the Yanks would no longer be forfeiting offense in the lineup (sorry, Mientky....), but they would then have to either bring up a farmhand to play outfield and put Matsui in the DH role or even make a trade for an outfielder and/or DH. This is clearly pure speculation, but I will say that I like the idea of Damon out of centerfield - and I am looking for a silver lining....