Back to baseball….
As my three year old son asked me yet again yesterday, “Daddy, tell me about “David Wright”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/sports/baseball/16mets.html?hp”, it occurred to me that the Mets might actually be cursed. If not cursed _per se_, then is it possible that they are having the absolutely worst run of injury luck for any major league baseball team ever? So far this season, they have lost to injuries:
* Their four best position players: All Stars David Wright (3b) Jose Reyes (ss) Carlos Beltran (cf) and Carlos Delgado (1b)
* Two of the five original members of their starting rotation: John Maine, Oliver Perez
* Two highly touted rookies called up to replace injured startes: Jonathan Niese (p, who hurt himself covering first base) and Fernando Martinez (of, although he was kind of a bust this year anyways).
* A big off season trade acquisition in the bullpen: closer-turned-set up man: J.J Putz
And just to top it off, their starting second baseman, Luis Castillo, hurt himself “walking down the dugout steps”:http://www.metsblog.com/2009/08/04/injury-castillo-exits-early/. Seriously, at this point the “Mets injury report”:http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/injuries only lacks a catcher and a second baseman to be able to field one of the top teams in the National League.
So here’s the challenge: can anyone come up with a team that has been more decimated by injuries than the 2009 NY Mets? Please?