Off Day Musings

I don't like these early off days.  My thirst for Tiger baseball is insatiable.  The season just got started.  Sorry to have such a selfish point of view.

A couple minor points I'd like to bring up.  Our lower part of the order and bench/utility guys are making valuable contributions thus far.  Nice--I like that.  It's a good sign, IMO.  We won't have to rely on the big boys doing it all every day.  I LOVE that we're moving runners up so much better than last year.  Laird really impresses on the base paths for someone who doesn't look that fast.  Josh Anderson practices the art of bunting like a fiend, and executes it pretty well too.

Here's an amusing little anecdote for you.  The other day, my son and I were playing catch at the park.  Just tossing the ball back and forth--nothing too serious, since I am athletically challenged and all.  Anyway, one of his throws caroms off my glove and hits me smack in the middle of the forehead.  He rushes over and apologizes like crazy.  I tell him it's all part of playing ball.  I wasn't too worried--it hurt, but it wasn't like a line drive off a bat, or a 97 mph Ryan Perry fastball, you know?  I wasn't seeing stars or anything.  I shook it off and we kept playing.  I wondered whether I'd have a nice goose egg out of it.  When we got home I checked, and sure enough, there was quite a lump, but more robin-egg sized.  I wore it like a badge of honor.  I felt just like Drew Barrymore in Fever Pitch.  This shows you how very little sports I've played in my lifetime.   Anyway, I feel really bad for someone who really gets smoked by a hard hit ball, because it's still really sore three days later.  It's easy to see how major damage is caused (Juan Encarnacion).

Catch up with you tomorrow night for the Seattle game.

One Free Agent Who Won't Be Signed

I've been following Juan Encarnacion's injury situation on and off since it happened.  If  you're not familiar, at the end of August 2007, he was hit in the eye socket by a foul ball that was hit by a teammate while he was standing in the on deck circle.  It was a truly horrific injury, essentially crushing the eye socket into little pieces.  Fortunately, his eyeball did not rupture.  You can look it up on YouTube, but I didn't put a link  here because I didn't want to be sensationalistic or macabre.  Anyway, Juan's eyesight and baseball career were in immediate jeopardy, and he's had several surgeries.  I noticed him listed among unsigned free agents, so I went digging.

Per the St. Louis Post Dispatch on November 10, 2008, Juan had gone through the motions of filing for free agency as a formality, but is not expected to play again.  Juan's "vision has not returned to a point where he can drive a car.  He was, at one point, described by a doctor as legally blind in the left eye.  His vision was classified a  year ago as 20/400 in  his left eye."

The article goes on to say that he has not been in much communication with the Cards, although GM John Mozeliak talked with him.  Sounds like Juan was in a bad place a couple months ago, still has much recovery ahead, and wasn't taking visits or calls, even from teammates.

Sorry to be the bearer of such woesome tidings, but thought you might be interested in our former Tiger and one-time World Series opponent.  I won't be trite and send him get well wishes--actually maybe I will.  Sounds like he could use a corny Hallmark card right about now--to let  him know "we're thinking of  him at this difficult time."