Erik Bedard Injured, Water Wet

There aren’t many things you can rely on in this life. Everything is in flux. Chaos reigns. When those few and rare instances of stability present themselves, you have to latch on and never let go, lest the whole world should spiral out of control. Death, taxes, and Erik Bedard getting hurt. These are the anchoring comforts of an otherwise random and confounding existence.

And hurt he is. Last night, Bedard left a baseball game against the Nationals after one measly inning of work. His back hurt. There were spasms and whatnot. These back ailments can be added to a list that includes shoulder and  more shoulder and knee trouble and whatever unreported else, all conspiring since 2008 to prevent Bedard from pitching over 150 total innings in a season. In that time, he’s broken the 100 inning barrier only once, and not by a whole lot. The injury trouble that has plagued Erik is a tragedy, in a way, or as much a tragedy as a hurt millionaire who plays a game can be. Bedard owns a career ERA of 3.66 (119 ERA+) and a K/9 rate of 8.79. And he’s been even better than those numbers in the last few (short) seasons. It’s all just about elite stuff if he could ever harness it for any meaningful stretch of time. Alas.

I myself have a strange fascination with the man. And I’m a Mariners fan. Figure that. I guess it’s silly of me, not holding a baseball trade made between powerful organizations and general mangers against the under-performing player featured in said trade. Erik should have stepped in and stopped everything and let everyone know he planned on being hurt a lot in the coming years! He really could have saved everyone a lot of grief, the selfish bastard. But no, despite his, at times, agonizingly slow pace on the mound, I rather enjoy watching Erik Bedard pitch quite a bit. He strikes people out a lot. He throws a beautiful curveball with his left hand and arm. When he’s on, he locates relatively quick fastballs on either corner of home plate. Pitchers like Erik Bedard make baseball a lot more interesting and fun to watch, at least for a weirdo like me.

In my 2012 projection, chalk full of foolish hope and optimism, I predicted Bedard would pitch 160 innings this season. Most of the more reliable and inhuman systems had him right around 120. They were probably right. Those damn computers. It’ll be them ruling us if we don’t watch it. Haven’t you seen the Matrix? It would be ideal if we had a bit more information about the nature of this most recent injury. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, we do not. We can’t always get what we want, it seems. If history is any indication, Bedard will miss a decent chunk of time, and his health will remain an open question for the remaining duration of the season. It’s a damn shame, I tell you. So tonight, pour a little bit of your beverage out for Erik Bedard’s creaky old back, and his sore and barking shoulder, and his bum knee. And his trade value that may have fetched an interesting young player with a decent sprinkling of upside. And the Pittsburgh Pirates. And whatever else that might be ailing you. This doesn’t all have to be about baseball, you know.

You can follow Call to the Pen on Twitter @FSCalltothePen or like us here on Facebook.
Kyle writes baseball nonsense at The Trance of Waiting. You can follow him on Twitter @AgainstKyle.