Thursday, April 21, 2005


Chicago Cubs : News :Nomar leaves game with groin injury
My heart is broken....at first I thought he just tripped...

ST. LOUIS -- Before Wednesday's game, all Nomar Garciaparra had to worry about was his hitting slump. That all changed after he took two painful steps in the third inning.

Garciaparra had to be carried off the field Wednesday night after injuring his left groin. The severity of the injury was unclear, a Chicago Cubs official said.

The shortstop will undergo an MRI on Thursday. He was examined by the St. Louis team physician on Wednesday.

"When I left the box, I don't know if my front foot kind of slipped coming out of the box," Garciaparra said. "Right when I took that first step, I felt my groin just go. That's when I went straight down. It was pretty painful. I've strained my groin before, but I've never felt anything like this before."

Asked if he thought it was torn, Garciaparra said, "That's my fear."

Nomar is a stand-up guy. You could see the anger and disappointment mixed with the pain as they carried him off the field. What's really sad is that this comes after he made a wonderful gesture, showing that for him, team comes before ego. Refreshing.

He had been injury-free this year, but hurting at the plate, entering Wednesday's game batting .163. He said he didn't want Dusty Baker to worry about his feelings if the Cubs manager wanted to drop the shortstop in the order. On Wednesday, Garciaparra batted sixth for the first time. He had been hitting third.

"I said, 'If you switch me, it's not like you're going to hurt my feelings,'" Garciaparra said before Wednesday's game. "I want to win here. 'If you feel you have to do that, it doesn't bother me. You make the decisions. Don't make the decision on how I'm feeling or how I'm going to take it.'"

Garciaparra gave the message to Cubs bench coach Dick Pole after Tuesday's game.

"[Garciaparra] said, 'Hey, man, I'm not helping us now. Just relay to Dusty that if he wants to move me down in the order, then that's what he'll do,'" Baker said. "He just wants to win and I know he feels badly about not contributing. I know it's eating him up. He hasn't struggled this much in a long time."

I hope that it's not as bad as it looks. Get well soon, Nomar.