Could Josh Hamilton’s ailing shoulder keep him out of the postseason?
Los Angeles Angels’ high-priced, super star (no I don’t mean Mike Trout or Albert Pujols) outfielder Josh Hamilton has missed the last six straight games with discomfort in his right shoulder.
Even though the Angels have won those six games and will likely continue to keep on rolling along to their practically guaranteed, thanks to the swiftly tanking Oakland Athletics, American League Western Division title concern has been growing regarding the outfielder’s shoulder.
At this point discomfort may not be strong enough of a word, although I can’t think of a better one. Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia has been worried enough to express his concerns to the media and subsequently the fans and public telling MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez Tuesday,
"“Guys play banged up when you’re in a pennant race, so for Josh to not play, you know he’s hurting. At first blush, it doesn’t look like it’s going in the right direction today.”"
Personally I hate to agree with Scioscia but he is right. This is it. Everybody is running down the stretch towards the finish and there are a lot of close races out there. Every player on every contending team wants to be out there playing, doing their job and doing it well to help their team.
Hamilton must be in some serious pain if he isn’t going to play or maybe it’s not as bad as we think. The Angels have the A.L. West pretty much locked up and will not be facing a one game playoff to determine if they go to the division series.
Perhaps Hamilton is sitting out so that he can be sure to be ready when the real competition hits and the Angels are trying to go deep into October. We may never know.
Scioscia’s assessment of Hamilton is likely correct. I’ve never known a ballplayer who wants to sit on the bench whether it’s March or July – let alone September and October.
We are also talking about a guy who has only played in 88 games this season. He spent the majority of the beginning of the season on the disabled list after tearing a ligament in his thumb while sliding head first into first base (um, ok?).
So here’s the timeline. Hamilton left the Angels’ September 4 game early with shoulder discomfort that was diagnosed as soreness in the acromioclavicular joint of his right (non-throwing) shoulder.
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He sat out two games, got a cortisone shoe and Scioscia, thinking he would be good to go wrote him back into the line up that Sunday. Hamilton scratched on Sunday as the injury had gotten worse moving into his trapezius muscle. According to Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe he then recieved trigger point injections to try and loosen the knots in his neck but Hamilton did not play Tuesday nor was he in the lineup last night.
As previously noted a player never keeps themselves out of the lineup unless they truly are in too much pain to play. Clearly right now the Angels are doing just fine without him in the lineup but statistically they play better with him in it.
The way things have progressed in the last week have not been good for Hamilton. Instead of getting better he is going downhill at a rapid rate. Rest and treatments are not helping him and his pain is getting worse. This is hardly ever the case with most athletes especially down the stretch.
There is no need to put him on the disabled list because of the expanded rosters. However, if things with his shoulder, and now it appears back and neck, continue to get worse Hamilton could quite possibly miss parts of, if not all of, the postseason.