Ryan Howard, Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner all go on the disabled list. Howard hits the DL with a moderate sprain of the left ankle:
“We’re hopeful he’ll be back in two weeks,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “It may be longer than that. We’re not sure.”
The Phillies are going to have to try to continue their comeback without the all-star right side of their infield.
Santana’s sprained knee lands him on the DL, while Hafner’s repaired shoulder is acting up. This will be the third season in a row in which Hafner missed time on the disabled list.
Update: Orlando Cabrera joins them as well. Orlando’s offense fell further off the cliff this season. Unfortunately, Paul Janish isn’t much better with the bat, so he’ll just need to catch the ball and the Reds should be okay.
Update: Kevin Youkilis’s thumb lands him on the disabled list as well. That brings Mike Lowell back to action. The Red Sox did poorly with both Dustin Pedroia and Victor Martinez on the DL. Kevin is the best hitter on the team, so unless Mike can hit much better than earlier in the season, this should put the offense down again.
The problem with the Red Sox when Victor went down along with Pedroia is they got 0 production from the replacement catcher (not a single RBI in a month).
Between Mike Lowell who hits LHP’er and hits well at Fenway, and perhaps a Lars Anderson call up, they should get decent production at 1B.
Youk is their most consistent hitter, he hits good pitching, bad pitching, LHP and RHP, home vs away. Rarely goes into a deep extended slump. He will be missed, but he only gets 11% of the teams PA.
Red Sox could explore getting Adam Dunn who was placed on waivers, but I think the Red Sox FO does not care enough to win this season. They have their injury excuse like in 2006, and know Red Sox fans will be back next year.
I looked at that Indians Triple A lineup tonight without Santana, Sizemore, Hafner, Peralata, and Kearns and take some comfort that things could be worse.