Yesterday's top story had to be that Albert Pujols went ahead and
had surgery on his elbow. Talk about coming out of left field! From the last comments made by AP and the club, I didn't expect anything to happen this quickly.
Thankfully, it wasn't the full-blown Tommy John surgery that we've all been fearing. It was more of a minor surgery to relieve pressure on a nerve (something that sounds similar to the condition Carpenter has). Here's the telling point of the article, in my mind:
But the nerve issue didn't crop up until the end of the '08 season, causing him numbness, tingling, weakness and pain.
So what would you consider the end of the season? I don't know how far it went back, but look at his numbers for the last homestand of the year:
.588 (10 for 17), 6 runs, 2 doubles, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 7 walks, 2 K, .708 OBP, 1.235 SLG
Maybe they should always numb him! To be able to get that kind of production with such a nerve issue is really amazing. We tend to take what Pujols does for granted, but then we take a step back and marvel anew.
Of course, the drawback was that Dr. Paletta did the operation. Paletta doesn't exactly have the full faith and trust of Cardinal Nation, but if there's one procedure that he's going to be doubly sure not to botch, it's AP's. The silver lining if he did botch it would be there's no way he'd work on Cardinal players again. Heck, he probably couldn't work in St. Louis again!
Be sure to check
The Rundown later today for the newest installment in the basically-month-long UCB roundtable!
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