Catcher’s Blog

Everyone is dropping like flies and getting injured. What are they drinking/eating in that clubhouse? Whatever it is, they need to find it and get rid of it before the whole team catches on. According to Yahoo’s injury list, these are the following on the DL:

• Martin Prado - Sprained left thumb (15-day DL, out for 6-8 weeks)
• John Smoltz - Right shoulder inflammation (15-day DL, no real time table, but will return a reliever most likely)
• Peter Moylan - Bone spur, right elbow (60-day DL, possibly having TJ surgery and out for remainder of season)
• Rafael Soriano - Right elbow tendinitis (15-day DL, should be returning sometime this month)
• Mike Hampton - Strained left pectoral muscle (15-day DL, should just go ahead and retire who knows when/if he’ll return)
• Anthony Lerew - Recovery from left elbow surgery (60-day DL, probably won’t be back until next season)
• Mike Gonzalez - Recovery from left elbow surgery (15-day DL, should be able to return this month)
• Omar Infante - Broken left hand (15-day DL, probably returning at the end of the month, at best)

Not to mention all the guys getting the flu bug that’s been passed around the locker room. Escobar was the last to have symptoms and had to come into the game Sunday because Prado sprained his thumb. If Escobar has the flu, who is going to fill in for him? Do they think he’s Ironman or something? He’s not. It doesn’t matter how much he wants to play, if he’s physically unable to play, he won’t play. Who will fill in for him? If Lillibridge is called up, who gets sent down? Why do us fans seem to be the only ones worried about this? Let’s hope this all gets straightened out and soon.

San Diego comes into town for three games and we won’t even see their best pitchers, Peavy or Maddux. Padres are tied for last place with Colorado at 9 games back, but really when you look at their pitching, it isn’t that bad. The team’s ERA is 4.16 and even our pal Wil Ledezma is sporting only a 1.96 ERA. How I’m not sure, but that’s usually the case of our not-so-dearly-departed pitchers. The Padres are on a 4-14 skid and are looking to turn things around. We need to take advantage of a struggling offense that is currently only hitting .230 as a team and keep the streak alive.