At many times over the last decade, Mets fans have wondered if Citi Field is built on an ancient Indian burial ground.
Last night, a pitcher strained both of his hamstrings scoring on a sacrifice fly, and somehow it wasn’t a Met. Masahiro Tanaka finds himself on the Disabled List, proving maybe it’s just any New York pitcher that risks injury upon entering Citi Field, not just those wearing blue and orange.
“It is certainly odd,” Aaron Boone said of the two hamstring strains. “Not something you see every day.”
Boone said he thinks it will be a few weeks before Tanaka returns, but it’s very possible that he’ll be back before the All-Star break.
Plenty of Yankees fans look at the National League game with its hitting pitchers with disdain. It was 10 years ago in Houston that Chien-Ming Wang suffered a career-altering injury while running the bases. In response, Hank Steinbrenner said that the National League should “join the modern age.”
Would the Yankees skipper like to see the designated hitter used in National League games?
“I would,” Boone said. “But I’m probably a little hypocritical in that aspect because I’ve always been a fan of both and that’s kind of been my stance but being here where I am now, especially our team being set up to have a DH, yeah, I’d love that.”
Like it or not, batting and possibly running the bases is something American League teams have to deal with in road interleague games.
“It’s something, obviously, we worry about and concern ourselves with and we should probably be a little more, overall, stay on it as a priority throughout the year,” Boone said. “So maybe there’s things we could incorporate that better prepare us for these kinds of situations, starting as early back as spring.”
Trainer Steve Donohue had to come out to the mound in the bottom of the ninth as Aroldis Chapman grimaced while running off the mound to back up a possible throw. It turns out that the fireballing southpaw has been pitching with tendinitis in his left knee for several weeks.
He has been pitching, and pitching effectively, through it.
On the same night the Mets put Jeurys Familia kn the DL, and announced Noah Syndergaard wouldn’t start on Sunday, it could’ve been a lot worse on the injury front for the Yankees.