Not but a few days after Brett Jackson was spared the full wrath of an ugly collision with the center field fence in Pittsburgh (he’s missed some time with a sore knee, but it looked much, much worse), Anthony Rizzo appears to have been spared the full wrath of an ugly collision with Astros first baseman Brett Wallace.
In last night’s game, Rizzo grounded to second base and started his run up the line to first. Astros second baseman Jimmy Paredes’ throw to Wallace pulled him off the bag toward Rizzo. The two collided at full speed, flipping Rizzo around like a rag doll (surprising, given Rizzo’s size), and Rizzo landed awkwardly past first base. Here’s the video, and, again, it’s ugly:
Fortunately, it sounds like Rizzo is going to be all right, even if he, like Jackson, has to miss a little time.
“I was really stunned and dazed at first,” Rizzo said, per Cubs.com. “I think that’s why I didn’t move. I think I was checking out everything to make sure everything was OK. I got up and I was still stunned, but it kind of wore off. I’m now just more sore than anything.”
Rizzo says he never lost consciousness, which is good news for anyone who was having Hee-Seop Choi-related flashbacks.
Cubs manager Dale Sveum went into a little more detail on the injury after the game, and even mentioned God’s benevolence.
“No major problems, except his right shoulder is pretty sore where he came down on it,” Sveum said, per the Tribune. “Might have got some whiplash stuff, but his head is fine now. No leg [injury] and he ended up being OK, after what it looked like. Thank God for that.”
Sveum says Rizzo is day-to-day, and I think it’s fair to guess that he’ll get today off, and possibly return on Friday, after tomorrow’s off-day. Things like this have a way of feeling a lot worse the next day, so we’ll see if Rizzo is as optimistic today as he was last night. But, for now, there is reason for optimism that a significant injury has been avoided.