Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Howard Hit The DL

It seems now that the Steroid Era is almost officially behind us the game of baseball has turned into a game of attrition. Much like football and hockey, only the healthy will survive.

Two of the teams that have been hit the most by injuries—the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies—got hit even harder on Monday when both teams lost their All-Star first basemen.

 

First the Red Sox lost Kevin Youkilis to a thumb injury. Boston placed the 31-year-old on the 15-day DL with a torn right thumb muscle.

Youkilis was hitting .307 with 19 HR’s, and a .975 slugging percentage in 102 games for the Red Sox. With the Red Sox 6.5 games behind the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, losing Youkilis might be too much for them to overcome.

To replace Youkilis, look for the Red Sox to use Victor Martinez at first and put Kevin Cash behind the plate. On the days that Martinez is catching, look for the Red Sox to use Mike Lowell at first. Yes, Mike Lowell is still alive.

The Phillies suffered an equally similar blow when they had to place Ryan Howard on the 15-day DL with a sprained left ankle. When Howard first got hurt, I thought he had hurt his knee, but apparently it was the ankle.

Howard is having another stellar season putting up a .292/.356/.528 hitting line with 23 HR’s. The Phillies are already without Chase Utley and Shane Victorino, so losing Howard is adding insult to injury.

The Phillies were three games behind Atlanta in the NL East and 3.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the Wild Card standings going into last night, iff they can somehow stay within striking distance through the month of August, they still could possibly steal a playoff spot in September.

I will never count out the Phillies until they are officially eliminated. They are too good to be an afterthought.

I also wouldn’t put it past the Phillies to go out an acquire a first baseman if they think Howard will be out longer than 15 days. Right now, Howard’s replacement seem to be Ross Gload or Cody Ransom. That’s terrible.

Players who figure to be waiver candidates that might make sense for the Phillies would be guys like Casey Kotchman, Adam LaRoche, or the above mentioned Mike Lowell.

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