Kevin Youkilis Out with Hip Bursitis
By Editorial Staff
Kevin Youkilis will miss the final game of the Boston Red Sox weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Instead of rejoining the Red Sox in Tampa, Youkilis will continue to rehab his left hip injury.
Friday, Youkilis was diagnosed with left hip bursitis and hasn’t returned to action since. The Red Sox are off on Monday, and Youkilis will use the day to workout in Boston. If he shows enough improvement, Youkilis could return to Boston’s lineup as soon as Tuesday.
Along with the hip bursitis, Youkilis is also dealing with a sports related hernia. The hernia is still in its early stages and isn’t expected to cause Youkilis to miss much if any time this season.
Instead, Youkilis will have the hernia reexamined this offseason. Even if the injury requires surgery, Youkilis will have plenty of time to recover before the start of the 2012 season.
The past month hasn’t been very kind to Youkilis injury-wise. The All-Star has only played in 10 of the Red Sox 29 games since August 12th. Youkilis hit the disabled list during the middle of last month, dealing with a sore back.
The injury was obviously hampering Youkilis before his trip to the DL, and things hadn’t gotten much better for him since returning in September. Over his 7 games after returning from the disabled list, Youkilis has only gone 5 for 27.
While the Red Sox had their lead in the AL Wild Card race trimmed to 4.5 games last night, the club is unlikely to rush Youkilis back from injury. Instead, the Sox will look to give Youkilis enough rest to have him return closer to the player that posted an OPS of .911 through the first half of the year than the one they’ve seen lately.
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