Halladay So Dominant People Almost Don’t Notice Polanco’s Knee Explode

When Delwyn Young squeezed a pop-up off his bat yesterday, I’m sure the last thing he expected to hear was a collective gasp go up.  But as Placido Polanco trotted toward the pitcher’s mound and his knee buckled, that’s exactly what happened.

Oh god.  Not another hole at third.

In an injury described by Polanco like losing your virginity, (“When it first happens you really get scared.  You don’t know what’s happening. It doesn’t feel right.”), the fresh third baseman had to be escorted off the field by medical staff and is listed as day-to-day.  Which, in the realm of horrible injuries… uh, isn’t one.

And, let’s just loudly whisper what we’re all thinking here, and say that Cody Ransom is awesome for some reason all through Spring Training.  Every time I look up I’m reading about Ransom sending another pitch over the wall–the guy’s batting .308.  Yes, it’s only Spring Training, but if he’s looking to prove himself, so far, he’s done so.

Let’s say, hypothetically, the knee thing is worse than anybody could imagine.  They take a look around in there and discover a nest of bone-eating chiggers.  This sort of shines a spotlight on Ransom’s generous production and gives him a regular season outlet.  So… let’s hope Placido’s just fine, but, you know.  Never hurts to have a backup plan.

But none of that should really matter because nobody’s talking about Polanco like he’s coming up lame and they’re going to have to put him down.  Not yet, anyway.  He’s getting “reevaluated” today.  Maybe that’s something they do with one hand on the “Old Yeller” rifle.

Assuming Polanco’s just peachy, Halladay also “faltered” yesterday, if you want to call it that–Doc gave up his first run of the preseason on a Lastings Milledge single.  He also struck out six in five innings.  Okay, I guess we’ll forgive you, Doc.  Just don’t let it happen again (That’s 14 K’s for Roy in 10 innings this Spring Training, for those of you playing at home. Sometimes you can feel NL East rivals shuddering when you say things like that.  It’s nice).

And, as a follow-up to my “ha-ha-I’m-not-really-crazy-but-maybe-I-am” rant yesterday about the whole Howard/Pujols thing that was “discussed internally,” if you’re Howard, aren’t you just the teensiest bit irked that this even came up?  I guess we’ll never know how seriously and to what degree a deal was being talked about.  Did they have it on the schedule?  Did it just pop into somebody’s head?  Was it mentioned as a joke that, after the subsequent laughter, got several seconds of pensive silence?

I’m just saying, you know, hi, I’m Ryan Howard.  I’ve been a huge part of getting you to the World Effing Series the last two years.  I’m not on steroids (I’ve been already been tested), the people love me, the team loves me, (I was going to mention the 2006 ML MVP  award, but Pujols has won it the last two years, so… heh heh), and sure, maybe I strike out a lot, but those numbers have been going down as I correct myself, and I’ve come up clutch plenty of times to balance out my mistakes.  I even came back in 2009 with vastly improved defense.

Also I just started canoodling an Eagles cheerleader.  You really want to cock block a 260 lbs guy by sending him 900 miles west?  Ouch.

Anyways, Ryan went 2-3 yesterday, so I don’t blame him for not wanting to talk about it.  Nobody likes it when the internet goes blaze with ridiculous rumors that just aren’t worth anybody’s time, especially when you’re trying to get geared up for a third consecutive World Series run.

Let’s just hope they get those knee-chiggers figured out for Placido.