FanPost

ankiel update / memphis health report

rick ankiel has a sore achilles tendon; he injured it thursday night in salt lake city, which explains his absence from the lineup on friday and saturday.  i got this info straight from him down in colorado springs. what's your timetable? day to day. are you going on the dl? no.

john rodriguez also got hurt in salt lake --- sore hamstring. the injury apparently occured as rodriguez was scoring from first base on a double in the top of the 11th inning on wednesday night; in the bottom half of the frame he was replaced in left field by john nelson, a shortstop. last night j-rod made his first appearance since the injury, pinch-hitting to lead off the 9th; he got a base hit, then limped off the field for a pinch-runner.

with both ankiel and rodriguez hobbled (and ludwick now playing in st louis), memphis started bozied in left, nelson in center, and stavinoha in right on friday night in the final game at salt lake. the same trio started the game saturday --- but bozied got hurt chasing a pop foul in the bottom of the first and had to come off the field. ryan christianson, a catcher, played left and batted cleanup the rest of the game. so the outfield consisted of a catcher, a shortstop, and a nominal outfielder (stavinoha is really a first baseman).

despite the makeshift lineup and a difficult travel day, the redbirds rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to tie the game 4-4 in the 7th inning, before ultimately succumbing 5-4; the "play a hard 9" mentality still exists within the organization.

i was told after the game that bozied will probably be sent to the disabled list, and another outfielder will be called up to memphis. the top candidates for promotion from springfield would seem to be reid gorecki and joe mather; gorecki based on seniority, mather on performance. my money's on gorecki; yes, he was dropped from the 40-man roster and has only received 23 at-bats so far at springfield (with only 2 hits), but he's a true centerfielder. of course, they also could call up the other true centerfielder on the springfield roster --- colby rasmus --- but i don't think he'll be the guy, even though his ops is pushing .900 at double A. the organization has made it pretty clear they do not want to rush the kid.

more impressions from my triple A scouting trip to come soon.