Is Beast Mode to Blame for MLB's Rash of Injuries?

One hundred years ago, baseball was a rough and tumble game, played by tough guys named Honus, Ty, Tris, Stuffy, and Buck.  They were underpaid by unappreciative owners who had complete control over their easily replaceable commodities.  If they got hurt and were unable to play for any extended period of time, they didn't get paid; not too surprisingly, these guys hardly ever missed a game.

When the season ended, these early baseball pioneers usually went back to the farm or the factory, to make ends meet until the the next Spring, when they hoped to continue their playing careers for at least one more year.  They stayed in shape during the off-season, baling hay, working in the mines, or picking cotton.  The weight room wasn't part of the regimen.  Beast Mode would have to wait for another century.

As the years went on, the game became a bit more refined and the players made a bit more money, but when the season came to a close, they were soon back home trying to make a buck doing whatever they could.  The big-name players might find a nice off-season gig working at a car dealership, or selling insurance.  Anything to keep the paychecks coming.

As the game progressed, the revenues increased and eventually players started getting a bigger cut of the action.  Free agent contracts became increasingly more lucrative for the players; more costly for the owners; more outlandish in the eyes of millions of fans who still have to work for a living.

The pressure for the players to stand out from their peers probably had a lot to do with the advent of the Steroids Era.  Home run records fell, much to the delight of fans everywhere.  Chicks may dig the long ball, but Congressional hearings dug up the dirt on widespread steroid use involving many big-name players.  Scandal forced MLB to adopt a random drug testing program, which has no doubt discouraged the use of performance enhancing drugs; a positive test now results in a fifty-game suspension for the offending party; assuming no chain-of-custody irregularities somehow come into play.

While obscure loopholes may exist to get an offending party off the hook, the vast majority of MLB players aren't taking any chances with the juice; instead, they're pumping themselves up the old-fashioned, Beast Mode way.  But have too many players taken Beast Mode a bit too far?  Has all this weight lifting caused far too many cases of tight muscles which become easily strained when players are constantly swinging for the fences?  Or when they accelerate a bit too quickly out of the box trying to leg out an infield hit; or going from first to third, or trying to score from second on a sharp single to right field?  I certainly think so.

This past Spring Training, when 19-year old phenom Bryce Harper was trying to make the Opening Day roster of the Washington Nationals, he was hampered by a bit of "tightness" in his calf.  I wonder if that condition may have possibly been the result of those famous heavy-duty leg squats he can be seen performing on You-Tube?  There's no doubt about it; the kid's an animal; a five tool player with incredible upside potential, if he can keep the calves from tightening up too much.

Speaking of You-Tube sensations; Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes put on quite a weight-lifting show as well, among other things, which no doubt got him a nice major league contract with the Oakland A's.  When he's been in the lineup, he's been a big catalyst; however, a muscle strain in his left hand landed him on the DL from May 7 to June 1, and a srained left hamstring on June 7 has him sidelined again; at least for a while.  After the injury, a somber Oakland analyst lamented, "He's built so tight; such a strong-body kid."

Speaking of strong-bodied catalysts; there's no doubt Dodgers' slugger Matt Kemp was more than just a bit Beast Mode-motivated heading into the 2012 MLB season.  But did all those 6 am workouts do more harm than good; especially for the legs?  A recurring left hamstring strain has him on the DL for the second time, and will more than likely cost the NL's best hitter - when he's able to play - what seemed to be a certain MVP Award this year.  As it stands, in just 36 games he had already whacked 12 home runs - a 54 home run pace over a full 162-game season.  Obviously, the Dodgers could use that type of production in the lineup on a regular basis; maybe he could have mustered a hit or two Friday night in Seattle.  As it stands, LA became the latest no-hit victim of 2012 - the fourth, overall.

The last time I checked, strained obliques and strained hamstrings are currently the leading cause of disabling injuries for MLB, followed closely by strained groins and strained backs.  Wherever there are tight muscles, there are plenty of issues; strained calves, shoulders, quadriceps, pectorals, and lats have wreaked plenty of havoc, as well.  How much of this is the result of overdoing the Beast Mode routine?  I don't know, but I have a feeling it's more than anybody would care to admit; at least publicly.

I know there are "strength and conditioning" specialists on most teams; maybe they need to place a little less emphasis on the "strength" portion of the job description, and more on "conditioning".  It couldn't hurt.

   

High Flying Cardinals Still Flying Under MLB's Radar

The defending World Champion St Louis Cardinals - written off by many before the season even began - sit atop the NL Central (19-11), led by rookie pitcher Lance Lynn's perfect 6-0 (1.40 ERA) start and a powerful offensive attack that is, arguably, MLB's best; certainly its most balanced.

Somehow, Mike Matheny's Redbirds are flying under the radar, and that probably suits the soft-spoken rookie manager just fine.  Compared to Tony LaRussa, Matheny is practically invisible.  Meanwhile, the on-going struggles of the dearly-departed Albert Pujols grab the headlines, while Matheny and company grab the wins.  That seems fair enough.

Of course, there are many other stories that are far more compelling than the low-key, professional, mid-western Cardinals (one Brewers' blogger, Tim Schaefer, referred to the then-LaRussa team as, "boring and craggy", in the aftermath of Nyjer Morgan's September tirade).  Give me a boring and craggy team that wins over one filled with unprofessional lunatics that don't win; okay?  Tim's Brewers are currently in last place.

Getting back to those non-boring teams, just take a gander at what's happening on the east coast.  The Baltimore Orioles are still leading the AL East, while the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are bringing up the rear; at least for the time being.  If Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine could get permission to play the rest of the schedule away from Fenway Park, they might win the World Series.  The Orioles, after sweeping Boston at Fenway - featuring an epic 17-inning marathon - returned home a bit tuckered out and now have to deal with the Texas Rangers at Camden Yards.  Monday night's reality check:  Texas 14 - Baltimore 3.  Tuesday night's unbelievable reality check:  Rangers crush O's again, 10-3; Josh Hamilton hits four (two-run) home  runs and a double - good for an AL-record 18 total bases.  Now THAT deserves some headlines!

More eastern seaboard drama features the inexplicable admission of Phillies' pitcher, Cole "I Cannot Tell a Lie" Hamels, when he said:  "I deliberately hit Bryce Harper with that pitch."  The nineteen-year-old phenom's crime was apparently being a rookie; along with grabbing an enormous amount of media attention - and loving every minute of it.  Just for fun, after the plunking, the irrepressible Harper, once he reached third base, stole home on the befuddled Phillies hurler.  In your face, Hamels!

This saga will no doubt continue to heat up; and continue grabbing more headlines.  It doesn't hurt when Harper's team - the Washington Nationals - have been the darlings of the national sports scene all season long; led by the NL Pitcher of the Month for April - Stephen Strasburg - and the rest of that vaunted rotation.  Future contests between these two now-bitter rivals will no doubt be national headline-grabbing events.  This just in:  The highly touted Nationals lost to the underrated Pirates by a score of 5-4, on a two-run walk-off home run by catcher Rod Barajas.

Along with the surprising success of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League has been the equally surprising success of the New York Mets in the National League.  When rookie Jordany Valdespin spun a Jonathan Papelbon fastball over the right field wall on Monday night for a game-winning three-run home run - his first big league hit - he became an instant legend in Mets' lore.  Of course, the Phillies fans have now added one more opposing player to hate.  Not to mention one more Phillies player to hate - the former closer of the Red Sox who had the audacity to give up the first hit to any batter with runners in scoring position all season.  Nobody's perfect.  This just in:  The Mets won again in Philly Tuesday night, 7-4 (their MLB-leading tenth come-from-behind victory).  The natives are getting restless in Philadelphia.

Boston has had little to cheer about so far in 2012, but that changed in a hurry when they called up rookie sensation, Will Middlebrooks, to replace the ailing Kevin Youkilis on the roster.  All Will the Thrill did was hit a game-tying grand slam home run against Baltimore in Saturday's eventual loss, then launch two more bombs in Kansas City - good for another five RBIs - in Boston's 11-5 win over the Royals on Monday night.  If you expect me to make some snide remark about Will's 9 RBIs in 4 games matching what Albert Pujols has amassed in 30 games; forget it.

Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers got off to the hottest start in franchise history, prompting the universal-media consensus of opinion that they were sure to win the next World Series.  The third time's the charm, eh?  Not so fast.  While Texas has stumbled a bit recently, those resourceful Tampa Bay Rays have taken it up a notch, even with Evan Longoria on the DL.  This must be the best team in baseball; at least for another week or so.  Not so fast.  Josh Hamilton and his four home runs deserve some kudos, while Tampa Bay just lost to the Yankees.  It's a close one; this fight for being acclaimed MLB's best team may take a while to settle.  That's why they play the World Series, I do believe.

Naturally, we can't forget all that excitement taking place in the other media hotbed, Southern California (aside from the Pujols Career Decline).  Matt Kemp and the Dodgers are tearing up the NL West, and a new ownership group - featuring the one and only Magic Johnson - is firmly in place.  I'm not sure how closely Magic has been following his new team this year, but during last week's press conference, an emotional Johnson acted like he was taking over a last place - not a first place - club, when he solemnly vowed, "We'll turn things around here; it may take time, but we'll get it done!"  Maybe he meant they'd try to figure out a way to slow Kemp and the boys down to keep the competitive balance intact in the Wild West?  Otherwise, I'm not sure what else "may take time"?  Nor did I hear anyone bother to inquire what Magic was referring to when he gave his little pep talk.

Other than all that newsworthy stuff going on around the world of MLB, the boring, craggy, Cardinals lead the NL with 39 home runs - five of which were launched Monday night against the D-Backs at Chase Field; (two more were launched on Tuesday night - both by Carlos Beltran, giving him 10 for the season, to go along with 26 RBI) they've now scored a NL-leading 167 runs in 30 games.  That's over five and a half runs per game, which raises the obvious question:  "Why haven't they won more games?"  Maybe they'll pick up the slack as the season moves along.

As one might suspect, the Cardinals also lead the NL in the "big three" offensive  saber-metric categories:

BATTING AVERAGE .283 - ON BASE PERCENTAGE .355 - SLUGGING PERCENTAGE .465

Oh yeah, they can also pitch a little bit.  Their 3.11 ERA is second best in MLB; batters are only hitting .234 against them (third best in MLB); and their WHIP of 1.11 is second best.

Now you know.  The St Louis Cardinals are a pretty good team; a balanced team.  The defending World Series champions may have lost a few cogs from last year, but the replacement pieces are working out quite well (the most notable "replacement" - Carlos Beltran - is on a pace to finish the season with 54 home runs and 140 RBIs); arguably better than the originals.

Meanwhile, those high-flying Redbirds are still managing to fly under the radar, and I don't know how they're getting away with it; especially with a MLB-best +70 run differential in the 30 games they've played; an incredible pace; probably an unsustainable pace.  At this current rate of domination, the Cardinals would end the season scoring 378 more runs than the opposition (902 to 524).  To demonstrate how ridiculous that is, last season the Redbirds only outscored their opposition by a total of 72 runs for the entire year, but it was good enough to reach the postseason.

In franchise history, the largest run differential of a World Series winner occurred in 1944:  +282.  The narrowest run differential for a World Championship edition was 2006's +19; which is no surprise, since they only won three more regular season games than they lost, before limping into the postseason; yet they managed to win eleven more games to grab their tenth title; didn't they?

To say 2007 was a  "down year" is quite an understatement.  The returning World Champions were outscored by an embarrassing 104 runs that season; the only season in the current millennium they scored fewer runs than they allowed.  On the other end of the spectrum, the 2004 Cardinals have been the most dominant team of the millennium, outscoring the opposition by a whopping 196 runs.  Of course, all that good stuff gets tossed out the window when the postseason begins; actually, it was the Redbirds who got tossed around in the World Series by the Boston Red Sox; a miserable four-game sweep.

Of course, the current 2012 season is still young - just 18.5% complete.  Still, the way it has begun is quite remarkable; it seems likely to result in a postseason berth for the Redbirds, barring some unforeseen misfortune.  Certainly, if the team maintains its statistical dominance, franchise history will likely be made; quite possibly, leading to a repeat performance of 2011's magic.  That would be something.

Come October, it's unlikely the St Louis Cardinals will be flying under anybody's radar.

MLB's Injury Epidemic

Recently, when St Louis Cardinals utility outfielder Skip Schumacher became the latest victim of major league baseball's trendiest injury - the strained oblique - I suddenly realized I never even knew what an "oblique" was when I was a kid (about 40 - 50 years ago); primarily since guys like Lou Brock, Billy Williams, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Tony Perez, Brooks Robinson, Pete Rose, Ron Santo, Kenny Boyer, or Carl Yastrzemeski never seemed to have a problem with that.  In fact, each one of these great players averaged over 150 games played in the five-year span beginning with their age 28 season, through their age 32 season.  Billy Williams actually spent that five-year stretch playing in every single game for his team, the Chicago Cubs; while his fellow Hall of Fame teammate, Ron Santo, played in nearly every game in that time frame, while privately battling diabetes.  How's that for tough?

Clearly, there are significant occupational hazards in baseball which cause injuries; some minor, some career-ending.  These great players from my youth not only avoided straining their obliques or calves throughout the bulk of their careers, they also were fortunate enough - or smart enough - to steer clear of things like bone-breaking bean balls and outfield walls; and when sliding into bases, avoided bodily injury from their collisions with opposing players.  In the case of Pete Rose, who played the game as hard as anyone who ever played the game; he was usually the guy doling out the pain on the base paths, as Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse could attest on that famous last bone-crushing play of the 1970 All-Star Game.

While Fosse fell victim to that vicious, but clean, hit delivered by Charlie Hustle, a young Cardinals catcher by the name of Ted Simmons was just getting his career off the ground.  One of the greatest hitting catchers of all-time, Simmons was also one of the toughest.  In a feat unlikely to be duplicated any time soon, Simmons appeared in at least 150 games as catcher for St Louis, for an astounding seven consecutive seasons - 1972 - 1978.  In case anyone hasn't experienced the heat and humidity of St Louis in July and August, you don't know what you're missing.  For the tough-minded and durable Ted Simmons, "missing" (as in games) simply wasn't a part of his vocabulary.

Durability is as important to a player's success as his overall ability.  For every Cal Ripken Jr who grinds out every single game, year in, year out; seemingly forever; there are hundreds of of Grady Sizemores who seem to have everything going for them, except luck.  Injuries may be a part of the game, but for some players, injuries have become the biggest part of their game.  World Series hero David Freese is hoping for his first full injury-free season to prove what he accomplished last Fall was no fluke.  If the Cardinals have any chance of successfully defending their World Championship, they need to get 150 games out of their rising star, and close to that out of their seasoned stars - Lance Berkman and his old Astros teammate and newly acquired free-agent, Carlos Beltran.

Nowadays,  most players remain physically fit, year 'round, following a strict workout regimen that is intended to make them strong and agile.  But are some of these guys overdoing it?  I mean, when a 19-year old phenom - Bryce Harper - is sidelined with stiffness in his left calf, something's just not right.

Recently, I heard an interesting perspective from New York Mets color commentator, Keith Hernandez, on the rash of injuries plaguing so many players.  Hernandez observed that many of the Mets players were going to the gym before the scheduled games; since pumping iron tends to restrict muscles, it hampers the ability to play baseball the way it's meant to be played - free and easy.  His simple suggestion:  Hit the gym after the games, instead!

I think he knows what he's talking about.  I recall Hernandez, who was a superb defensive first baseman, spent a lot of time before games, stretching out the old muscles; with special emphasis on keeping the legs limber and flexible.  His strategy seemed to work; with cat-like defensive agility, Hernandez revolutionized the way first base was played, and no one played it better.

It's unclear what caused the calf problem of Bryce Harper; is it possible he overdid the weight-lifting routine on his legs, just a bit?   Was he so determined to make the Opening Day roster of the Washington Nationals, he spent a little extra time in the gym; instead of the batting cage?  After an unimpressive 8 for 28 (.286) performance in 9 games, which featured a team-leading 11 strikeouts and no home runs, the club decided the gimpy-calved teen-aged phenom would be better served playing AAA ball instead; at least for a while.

In the meantime, as more iron-pumping ballplayers strain their tight muscles, perhaps they could learn a thing or two from the training regimen of former Heavy Weight Boxing Champion - the late Smokin' Joe Frazier - when he was in his prime.  Frazier, who was known for his relentless style of fighting and ferocious punching ability, explained why he avoided lifting weights:  "It makes me muscle-bound, and I can't afford to be muscle-bound."

Major league ballplayers can't afford to be muscle-bound, either; it's just not conducive to playing the game the way it's meant to be played.  Nor is it conducive to being able to play the game on a regular basis, for any players who really want to help their teams win.