This is getting ridiculous.
The 2010 Giants were World Series champions partly because they were absurdly lucky with the amount of injuries they had. That's because they had none.
In 2010, the World Series champions had one starting pitcher go on the DL (Todd WeLOLemeyer). In 2010, the World Series champions had Andres Torres replace Aaron Rowand, not because he was hurt, but because he sucked (and was hurt). In 2010, the World Series Champions starting infield took one man out (Edgar Renteria) and replaced him with Juan Uribe.
In 2011, the defending World Series Champions came back with a (supposedly) better lineup. Burrell, Torres, Ross in the outfield. Sandoval, Tejada, Sanchez, Huff across the infield. Buster Posey behind the dish. A strong defensive bench of Schierholtz, DeRosa, Rowand, Fontenot, and Whiteside. They even brought in Brandon Belt to make things interesting.
Out of those eight starters, only one has avoided the DL this year (Huff). Out of those eight starters, Huff also seems like the only one who really needs some time off to think about what he's done this year (not much).
Burrell may be done for his career. Tejada (oblique) was just reactivated, but that's only because new addition Carlos Beltran (wrist) was shelved. Torres (lower leg) is back on the DL. Ross (calf) missed significant time at the beginning of the year. Sandoval broke a bone in his hand and missed six weeks. Freddy Sanchez is done for the year (shoulder), as is Buster Posey (bottom half).
Schierholtz just got x-rays on his foot. DeRosa is floppy. Rowand keeps injuring his core. Fontenot missed a lot of time with a strained quad. Eli Whiteside is healthy, and that's great, but it doesn't exactly solve the Giants' offensive problems.
Heck, even the replacements have been getting hurt. Darren Ford was called up, contributed, but hurt himself. Bill Hall was signed when Freddy Sanchez went down, but then (someone) decided he wanted to see what a shinbone looks like. The Giants traded for Jeff Keppinger, but last night he collided with Braves first-baseman Freddie Freeman and just got an MRI on his wrist. They brought up Brandon Belt a while ago but he promptly got hit on the wrist and broke a bone.
On the pitching side, the 2010 Giants had no problems, except Wellemeyer. But that brought us Madison Bumgarner, so that was seen as acceptable. People flared up with some such minor injury, but it was usually like, "Lincecum Battles Flu, Only Strikes Out 12."
Barry Zito, who had never been on the disabled list in his career, has now been on the disabled list for more than half of the year. Jonathan Sanchez was on the DL with tendinitis in his strike throwing muscles. Santiago Casilla has missed time. Brian Wilson missed a few games earlier this year, and hasn't been the same guy. Now Sergio Romo is going on the DL (and not because of his trick knee).
Heck, even announcer Dave Flemming went down and had to miss a postgame show when he blew up his elbow. That's when you know it's bad, when even the people who don't have ANY part in the physical playing of the game get hurt. Just by watching.
Bottom line: We are all at risk.
San Francisco Giants telecasts will soon be preceded by a Jackass-like warning label. Fans buying season tickets will now sign releases acknowledging "Giants on field may be more injured than they appear."
Today's game is featuring a bench of Eli Whiteside and Mark DeRosa. That's it. I'm assuming Madison Bumgarner will pinch-hit if needed. Matt Cain would be next after him. Then Shawon Dunston.
The real bottom line: The 2011 Giants are getting seven years of devastating injuries out of the way now so that they can seven-peat for the rest of the decade. I hope.
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