Well, at least there was a pretty good explanation for why Padres ace Jake Peavy stunk up the joint yesterday.
Jumping up and down in a close knot of teammates during San Diego’s celebration of the NL West championship, Jake Peavy felt a sharp twinge in his rib cage.
The Padres’ ace tried to pitch in Game 1 of the NL division series anyway, an 8-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, and now he will miss the rest of the postseason with a broken rib.
An MRI exam at Barnes-Jewish Hospital revealed a fractured eighth rib, and doctors were still trying to determine if the ninth rib was fractured, too.
“The next day I just thought I had some bruised ribs, caught an elbow or something,” Peavy said. “I never would have imagined it would have been this.”
I can believe that. If only explaining how it is that the wrong Sox put up a football score in their Game One could be that simple. Not that I’m complaining, mind you – between that and the result in Orange County, yesterday was a good day.
I’ve seen this happen before. Last year LSU’s best pitcher had just pitched the Tigers into the CWS but in the ensuing celebration dogpile on the mound, he separated his shoulder on his pitching arm and was done for the season.
And then there was Bill Grammatica of the Arizona Cardinals, who tore the ACL in his knee a few years back while jumping up and down, celebrating a field goal he just made.
Of course, right about now, the Texans doing so much as scoring three points seems like a major cause for celebration.