Speaking of the New York Yankees, the baseball club found their way on to sports headlines for rather unfortunate reasons on Thursday, as star relief pitcher Mariano Rivera suffered a torn ACL during a team batting practice session before the start of the Yankees' weekend series against the Royals in Kansas City.
As is custom for the Yankees closer and all-time saves leader (608 as of May 5th), Rivera would field fly balls in the outfield during BP, but on one occasion Rivera tripped and fell awkwardly into the outfield fence, and damaged his knee in the process. Cameras for the YES Network, the sports network dedicated to broadcasting Yankees games on weekdays, were rolling when the incident occurred. It could be said the loss had a profound effect on the team as they lost 4-3 that evening; even third baseman and teammate Alex Rodriguez, who watched the entire incident from the sidelines, reacted in horror at the mishap.
There are only a few New York Yankee players I admire: Derek Jeter for one, but among the others is Mariano Rivera. His workman-like and humble attitude is refreshing amidst the big ego and big contracts of professional sports, much less in the bright lights of New York City; whenever he takes the mound at Yankee Stadium, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica would play on the loud speakers LOL As a Blue Jays fan, the sight of Rivera entering the game from the bullpen in the ninth inning is scary o_O
For such a storied career, the future Hall-of-Famer should not end his playing days under such bizarre circumstances. You need both legs to pitch, and the knee affecting the right-hand pitcher is the one that generates the most power, and bears much of the weight. I suffered a similar injury to my knee last year, and praise God the damage was not severe to that extent. However, I must play with knee pads now to keep the knee in place. I do pray and hope "Mo" Rivera will return to baseball soon. Hopefully, he can go back to pitching and wearing those 1912 Yankees hats ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment