One of the cool things about this season was supposed to be that the Orioles presumably wouldn't have the injuries they had in 2010. Guess again; in the span of a few days it seems like they're dropping like flies. Caesar Izturis came back to Baltimore in the middle of last weekend's road trip with a nerve problem. He's on the 15-day DL, and he might have to be moved to the 60-day DL. DerreGee, you really have to love the Orioles' moxie when it comes to injuries. Derrek Lee left Monday's game in Boston with a strained left oblique, and was put on the 15-day DL this evening. However the coup de grace has to be Brian Roberts, last year's big injury story. As we remember, Roberts missed most of spring training in 2010 with back spasms, and then injured his abdominal muscle in the fourth game of the season; we didn't see him again until the end of July. In the final week of the season, Roberts suffered a self-induced concussion when he smacked himself in the head following through on a swing-and-miss. According to Roberts, he felt concussion symptoms until Christmas; since they've now returned as a result of a head-first slide, Roberts is on the new 7-day DL for concussions. Chris Jakubauskas and Troy Patton were called up from triple-A Norfolk to take Lee and Roberts' roster spots, and the Orioles are expecting to make another roster move tomorrow involving a position player. That position player might well be catcher Craig Tatum, who would join the team in the capacity of a backup catcher. That would free Fox up for more infield work in the absence of Roberts and Lee.
Gee, you really have to love the Orioles' moxie here with regard to injuries. I'm not one of those people that blames injuries on the team. There's a school of thought out there that I've heard whereby people say that the team is snakebitten because the Orioles hate the Yankees, or because Peter Angelos owns the team, or maybe even because it's raining outside (which it is at the moment, causing the Orioles and Yankees to go into a rain delay). Injuries are what they are, and you have to deal with them. Unfortunately, two key components of this team in Roberts and Lee are now on the DL. The good news for Roberts is that he'll be eligible to come off the DL on Tuesday since he's on the 7-day DL for concussions. If he's cleared to play, he'll be in; if not, odds are he'll go over to the 15-day DL and have to wait another eight days. For the time being let's assume that he'll be back. However that's still the entire right side of the infield. And we all remember what happened last year when Roberts' bat was out of the lineup.
Ultimately, the Orioles are going to see what they're made of these next couple of weeks. The Orioles' depth was supposed to be much deeper this year. We're going to find out. Unfortunately they're getting everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them at the moment, however bad things seem to happen in droves to this team sometimes. Buck Showalter is not the type of manager that's going to allow this to turn into an excuse for losing. Odds are, he's instilled that in his players also. We're going to find out.
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