Cardinals star catcher Yadier Molina might be the first player in baseball history considered “day to day” on the first day after suffering a severe oblique injury. Molina indicated on Monday he maintained hope that he might be able to play in NLCS Game 3 Tuesday, but realistically, if he makes it back at any point in this series, it has to be considered miraculous.
“He is smart enough to know that if he can’t help, he will step aside,” Molina's longtime agent Melvin Roman said. “But if he can contribute, he will go for it. He will do everything in his power to try to play. You know Yadi, he will try.”
Molina declared, “My season isn’t over,” in an interview Monday with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when he didn’t rule out playing in Game 3 of the NLCS Tuesday afternoon. A.J. Pierzysnki was listed in the starting lineup in his place.
Roman didn’t rule it out, either, saying in an interview with CBSSports.com that it all depends how he feels -- though Roman suggested perhaps Game 4 Wednesday might be slightly more realistic.
If Molina can go at all, it is truly amazing. An oblique injury such as the one suffered by Molina – he said it felt “like a knife” in his side upon injuring during Game 2 Sunday – normally takes six weeks, or more, to heal.
It’s easy to see why Cardinals GM John Mozeliak, in the afterglow of the NLDS win over the Dodgers, cited the team’s “core” as key to their continuing success; the Cardinals have appeared in four straight NLCS. He named Molina, Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright as vital core members. Wainwright is pitching through an elbow issue, and Holliday mostly played through a wrist injury in the 2011 playoffs and World Series en route to the team’s championship.
A wrist injury is usually a killer for a hitter. But an oblique injury normally is also considered a DL guarantee.
A lot depends how Molina feels when he wakes up Tuesday. All eyes of St. Louis are watching, as Molina is considered the most indispensable player on the Cardinals. Tony Cruz came into Game 2 Sunday to replace Molina, and veteran A.J. Pierzynski gives them another option.
Molina, in fact, spoke hopefully in his interview Monday with the Post-Dispatch, saying, "I feel better. I came over here to get some treatment, play some catch. That was obviously a good sign. ... It was a really bad pain. I was in pain, obviously. But this morning I woke up, moving a little bit better. Hopefully tomorrow I wake up and feel better.”
If Molina can’t make it, the Cardinals have the option of replacing him in the NLCS, but by rules, if they do that he won’t be eligible for the World Series. Amazingly, it doesn’t sound like that’s an option they are currently considering.
