I blogged just two weeks ago about Albert Pujols and how he was considering having surgery on his plantar fasciitis once the season was done. However, it looks like Pujols won't have to wait until the end of the season to get that surgery done on his plantar fascia.
The Los Angeles Angels announced Sunday via Twitter that Pujols was being placed on the 15-day disabled
Rut roh. According to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, manager Mike Scioscia believes Pujols will miss a substantial amount of time: "Angels MGR Mike Scioscia said DH Albert Pujols will be out "for a significant amount of time."
So how long? Well, Yahoo! sports writer Tim Brown believes the 33 year old will likely be out the rest of the season, tweeting, "Source: Pujols has been told he's likely done for the season. Surgery possible, but undetermined."
How long do we think, since we're experts on plantar fascia tears? Likely the rest of the season, as Brown has reported. Even two months rest would bring him into October and the postseason, and at that point, he might as well stay out the rest of the season.
Pujols has been dealing with plantar fasciitis on and off for close to ten seasons, but this is the worst it has ever been. He had been hopeful the four day break for the All-Star game would give it some time to rest, and he had been hitting well since the return- 11-for-29- but his pain is no better.
"It's been the same," Pujols said in Spanish. "I still feel some pain. I still feel it bothering me a bit. That's something that in the offseason, with time and rest, hopefully the pain can go away."
In the past Pujols has been able to deal with the pain, but this season the pain hasn't gone away and all of those years playing through the pain have caught up with him.
"That's how it is when you've been playing with something nine years," he said. "That's what the doctor told me. He said, 'Look, you've been nine or 10 years playing with this and it gets worse.' It's like if you have an injury in your arm and you keep throwing. What do you think? It's a long year, and it's going to catch up to you. That's what happened."
It looked like he aggravated the injury on Friday night against the Oakland Athletics, which could explain the partial tear he now has in his plantar fascia.
Compared to years past, Pujols is putting up low- to average numbers, hitting just .258 with 17 home runs and 64 RBIs. Certainly not terrible numbers, but nothing compared to what he used to put up in the past. Pujols' struggles are reflected in the performance of the team, which is currently 12 games back in the American League West and 8.5 games back in the wild-care race.
If you've been following sports at all this year, you know how bad a plantar fascia tear can be. Los Angeles Lakers player Pau Gasol was out a couple of months while his plantar tear repaired and we've seen several other professional athletes fall victim to the curse. The moral of the story is to rest, rest, rest. Playing through an injury does not make you look like a tough guy, or even a team player. Where will your team be when you're out for multiple months, or even a full season? You'll be in a similar situation as the Angels are in right now.
Reference: Bleacher Report and MLB
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