Brown's First Hit Comes at a Price, as Phillies Lose
By: Mike Reisman
Today was a day the Phillies would like to forget. The Phillies received bad news regarding two key starters during their game with the Pittsburgh Pirates, most likely side-lining both of them, at least for now.
The problems started at around two o'clock when the team announced that Chase Utley had a cortisone shot to help the pain in his knee. Utley has patellar tendinitis which was originally not very significant, however, now that Utley needs a cortisone shot, his tendinitis seems to be more serious. Though the team still believes that the All-Star will be ready come April, they are not ruling anything out. To me the main problem with this is not just Utley not playing now, but that this may impact his future. Thought he says this is just "a little wear and tear", I don't totally trust that.
Now onto Domonic Brown. Brown got his first hit of the spring, which, though it's long overdue, better late than never. Brown wouldn't be able to celebrate his first hit long though, as he was taken out of the game, which the Phillies lost 4-3, soon after the hit with a hand injury. The news got worse from there, as an X-ray revealed that the prospect had a fractured bone in the hand.
The Phillies said that this type of fracture normally requires surgery, and that Brown will most likely be out for 3-6 Weeks.
This is bad, there is no doubt about it, but every cloud has a silver lining, including this one. Though this may not be the year Domonic Brown can live up to his expectations, but this injury will give the streaking Ben Francisco a chance to play. This spring, Francisco is batting .421 through 19 at-bats. He also has two doubles, a triple, and three home runs. He also has 6 RBIs and an incredible .947 slugging percentage. Needless to say he is well qualified for the job.