Breaking his (partial) Silence.

Reuters Pictures

Mike Lowell has not been one to really talk to the media since spring training started but after today's game he spoke about the challenge of playing first:

"I am feeling more comfortable. I was actually glad I got a ball in the dirt and a chance to hold some runners on--just doing more of the responsibilities. There are definitely different things you have to concentrate on but I think the two positions are related. You're involved in a lot more plays, which is better. I would say it's a lot more comfortable position to play because you don't need to make that throw [from third to first]."

and the chattiness involved in playing first:

"Absolutely. I was asked how the kids and family are doing. Is this guy making the team? When the first base coach is up with a runner on first, you almost can't help but talk. When I got to first, I would say hi to the first baseman and all of that but you're almost gone in three or four pitches.

"I feel like I know [Pirates first base coach Carlos] Garcia. He's almost like family after just five innings. No wonder everybody loves Sean Casey so much. He knows your whole family history. A lot more talk, a lot more talk. More bantering."

He also talked about the lack of improvement in his hip:

"With X-Rays and what I've done, I think what I was not aware of was best case
scenario was status quo post-surgery. Meaning whatever cartilage damage I had, which was technically was pretty signficant on the hip side, it wasn't going to get better. I don't know if it was my optimism. But I do believe it was what I was told -- that it was going to get better.

"In that sense, would I compare it to like I was running like in '07? I would say no. So in that sense it was a little disappointing. I still stand that I am better than last year. There's a certain condition in the hip that I don't think will ever allow me to get the point where I was in '07 or prior. In that sense, of course that's disappointing but I think once I got more educated in what happened with the surgery, and I have more range of motion now that can cause more friction, it makes more sense."

He seems really down about the hip, which is too bad.

Trading Barbs.

Mike Lowell and Rob Bradford are total BFFs. So, it would make sense that when Lowell decided to make his side of the "Great Thumb Controversy" known he went right to Bradford. Sounding slightly bitter, defensive and like he's giving a deposition, Mikey says:

“I was in constant contact with the training staff and I told them at the two-week (mark) I didn’t feel a difference with my thumb and at the four-week mark it was the same thing and then at the seven-week mark Mike Reinold flew down to Miami to check it out and that’s when they decided to put me in the splint and keep it immobilized for a month. That’s when the thinking was that it might be something more than it was originally thought to be. The first day of the winter meetings was when I was ordered to get an MRI."

I don't really understand what the point of this was as I'm sure it doesn't help things with the front office if they do end up stuck with each other. Mike certainly doesn't seem too happy with them.

Thumbs Down.

Mike Lowell seems to have the worst luck when it comes to injuries. Damage to the radial collateral ligament of the thumb, while not unheard of, is rare.

It's a short little ligament that originates at the styloid process of the radius (the little point of bone on the end of the radius) and connects to the scaphoid bone in the wrist (the lower of the two wrist bones in the picture) and the trapezium (the other wrist bone in the picture). You should be able to easily feel it in your own wrist. It's in the space between the end of the radius and the metacarpal of the thumb. The purpose of the RCL is to stabilize the wrist and to limit how far the hand will move in the direction of the pinkie finger. If you hold your right hand straight out in front of you with the wrist flat and try to move just your hand to the right, it won't go very far because of the RCL. Mikey Lowell's probably moves alarmingly further because his RCL is torn.

As to why nobody bothered to get this checked out sooner: The prescribed treatment for the injury is to splint the thumb for four or five weeks in the hope that it will heal itself before attempting surgery; so they very well may have done this. The surgery itself is fairly simple, depending on the quality of the ligament. You open up the hand and reattach the ligament. In severe cases the ligament may be too damaged to use and you'd have to do a tendon graft. Then you reset the bones and pin the joint in place.

Recovery is probably three or four weeks until you take the pin out and then an additional three weeks or so until the ligament is healed. I'd say it would probably be the beginning of March before he'd be ready to get back into the swing of things.

Hold the Phone.

Rob Bradford has it that Mike Lowell is staying due to a torn radial collateral ligament in his thumb. Obviously not for Mikey himself but this may be the best outcome to occur from this whole fiasco.

Hips Don't Lie.*

Since I'm still keyed up, let's talk hips and hip effusions.

An effusion is build up of excess fluid in a body cavity. When they drained Mike Lowell's hip joint, they took out 15cc of synovial fluid. The average amount of fluid in a hip should be around 5cc. If 5cc is a little more than a teaspoon (and it is), then 15cc is nearly a tablespoon plus a teaspoon--which seems pretty excessive.

The problem with excess fluid is that it increases the pressure on the joint. And in some cases can cause the bones to become slightly displaced. When bones are out of place, it causes pain and limits the functionality of the joint. Just the act of draining the joint and relieving that pressure, is probably what led to Mikey felt better today.

The more interesting question is what is causing the buildup of fluid in his hip. Although they do occur in adults, hip effusions are more often a kiddo problem; specifically, boys aged 2 to 10. The most common causes would be synovitis (an inflamed synovial membrane), septic arthritis (an infection of a joint), and osteomyelitis (a bone infection). Other cause could be trauma, osteoarthritis, or gout/psuedogout.


*When this song was popular I had a clever friend who quipped "I've just about had it up to here with Shakira and her honest hips." Made me laugh; still does.

3000 Miles or 68 Games.

Mike Lowell will be making his way back to Boston to get an injection of Synvisc in his balky hip on Monday.

Most of the movable joints in the body (hip included) are synovial joints. Synovial joints differ from fibrous joints and cartilaginous joints in how the bones are held together; fibrous joints are held together by fibrous connective tissue and the bones shouldn't be able to move (the bones of the skull are good examples), cartilaginous joints are held together by cartilage and move only a little (where the first rib connects to the sternum is a good example), and synovial joints are two bones that are strapped together by ligaments with some space in between.

Inside a synovial joint the bones are covered with cartilage to lessen the impact of them knocking together during movement. The cavity between the bones is also lined with a membrane, conveniently called the synovial membrane. This membrane secretes synovial fluid into the empty space.

Synovial fluid has a high viscosity and a consistency similar to that of raw albumen. (When you separate a joint--like a knuckle--little bubbles will form in the fluid and when you close the joint the bubbles will pop, creating a satisfactory cracking sound.) Its purpose is to lubricate the joint and reduce friction as the cartilaginous ends of the bones slide across each other. It may also help to nourish the cartilage.

The treatment they're prescribing for Mikey is usually given to patients suffering from osteoarthritis in the knee. It is, essentially, synovial fluid replacement therapy. Hyaluronate (Synvisc being the brand name) injection is similar in concept to an oil change. They inject the treatment into the joint and it protects the cartilage in much the same way that motor oil protects an engine. Hyaluronan (what it's made of) has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, which may help to protect against further damage.

Its effectiveness in patients with osteoarthritic knees is questionable. Some patients have seen no improvement and others have seen a reduction in knee pain for up to six months. But there doesn't seem to be any harm in giving it a shot.

A Petition for St. Rita.*

It's strange how the mind works sometimes: I'd noticed the prayer card that Mike Lowell has tucked behind the nameplate of his locker at Fenway but, somehow, I'd never connected it with him being Catholic. It makes sense; Cuba (well, maybe not Cuba with the Communism), Puerto Rico, and South Florida are all heavily Catholic areas. Maybe he just seemed too urbane to be religious or something. But what do I know, I was in Paris (a very sophisticated, better than you kind of place) at Easter time a few years ago and people were literally spilling across the nathrax of a smaller church to hear the Good Friday mass. It was unexpected.

Anyway, Catholictv did an interview with Mike Lowell and it will be airing on July 7 at 10:30am and 8:00pm (they also stream their programming live on their website)--just in case anyone is interested.

*Please don't smite me for being sacrilegious. Thank you.

Rain, Rain Go Away. Little Mikey Wants to Play.

Mike Lowell is pissed about playing in the rain.

"[Red Sox management] got the gate. Whenever we make it up, it's going to be a sellout. Before the game I was hearing about makeup dates, so obviously they saw the forecast wasn't good and something was coming through. There was nothing we were told or saw on the radar that suggested that we were going to be playing in any type of good conditions.

I think a lot of guys are [livid] right now. …I'm frustrated and I think a lot of guys are frustrated."

When I was in high school and someone complained about the weather my track coach was overly fond of asking: What is this baseball? It rains, we get wet. So...Yeah, it was pouring last night. And yeah, it probably wasn't safe to be playing on the wet grass. I'm guessing that it wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone involved. But when, Mickey my love, were you going to make up the game if they didn't try to play last night? It's one of the perils of interleague (along with accidentally breaking the feet of AL pitchers) but looking at the calendar, July 2 is the only day that would have been almost easy peasy for everyone. Besides which, if you really wanted to finish the game, then you should have done something better than line out after Ortiz reached on the error.

All Smiles.

Apparently, it's pick on Rocco Baldelli Day. What can you do?

Photos from today's workout:

Why is Jason Varitek smiling as he rounds third and heads for home? He's thinking about the ridiculousness of him being able to beat the throw to the plate if this were to happen in a game.

Mike Lowell is just happy to be Mike Lowell. Wouldn't you walk around with a similar expression on your face, if you had the great fortune to be Mike Lowell?

A twofer (because it's a thing of beauty.)

But when isn't David Ortiz smiling?

A baby-faced Dustin Pedroia can't keep it in.

Even the truly scary Julio Lugo can crack a smile.

It's a valiant effort, really. It's almost nearly close to being a smile. Good job Rocco!

Who Cares About That Dumb Old Teddy Bear, Anyway?

Mike Lowell has a good rapport with Rob Bradford. Their relationship probably pre-dates the book they wrote together but it at least stems from that point. So it would make sense that if Lowell wanted to come clean, as it were, Bradford would be the one to whom he would turn. Which, coincidentally, is what he did.

Lowell talked honestly to Bradford about the whole Teixeira mess and said:

"I think it’s only human nature (to be upset) when you’re given the choice (to sign) in more than one place and you end up signing in a place where you proclaim to enjoy the baseball and everything and you look forward to being there for at least three more years,” said Lowell, referring to the three-year, $37.5 million deal he inked with the Red Sox after the 2007 season. “Then after one year, for there to be all this talk … the writing was on the wall."

I understand what he's saying. Last year at this time, everything was hunky-dory; everyone was happy. But then he got hurt and his age started to show. And suddenly there was a shiny new toy that they needed to have. Mike Lowell found himself cast aside, seemingly unwanted. Even for masochists, rejection isn't a pleasant feeling.


But I (and I don't think I'm alone in this) still whole-heartedly love Mike Lowell--just please, please be healthy.

Father Knows Best.

Proviso: I don't pretend to be proficient in Spanish translation. If I was being generous, I might consider myself competent. In other words, I could be completely wrong about this. Fair warning. I really just wanted to put the picture up--I can see Mikey in Dr. Papa Lowell.

Primera Hora, a Puerto Rican tabloid-like newspaper (think NY Post), interviewed Mike Lowell's dad about the possibility of Mike playing for team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. If you'll recall, before becoming a dentist Dr. Lowell was a pitcher of some renown for the Puerto Rican national team in the 1960s and 1970s.

Says Dr. Papa Lowell of seeing his son play:

"Yo espero poder viajar a Puerto Rico en marzo. Esa es una de las ilusiones mas grandes que tengo, poder ver a mi hijo jugar por Puerto Rico y que viva lo que yo tambien vivi. Todo va a depender de lo que diga Boston, pero el se esta preparando como si fuera a jugar."

Roughly:

"I hope to be able to travel to Puerto Rico in March. One of my biggest dreams is to see my son play for Puerto Rico like I did. It all depends on what Boston says, but he is preparing as if he was going to play."

Also, Dr. Papa Lowell has a different take on Mike's level of recuperation than Theo's cagey response to questions of Lowell's health at the BBWA dinner. Essentially, Theo said Mike was pretty much coming along nicely but there had been some setbacks and that he probably would be game ready by the start of the season. Says Dr. Papa Lowell:

"Si por Mike fuera, ya estuviera corriendo, recogiendo roletas y bateando. El esta bien ansioso por recuperarse porque de verdad que quiere jugar, pero Boston lo lleva bien suave."

Roughly:

"If Mike were to go, he's already running, fielding and batting. He's eager to be better, because honestly, he wants to play but Boston is taking a cautious approach to his rehab."

I'm torn about Mike Lowell playing in the WBC. Part of me hopes that they let him play because it's his Dad's dream but if he rushes back he might re-injure himself and that would not be a good thing-not for Mike and not for the team.

[Aside: There are a lot of accent marks that I left out of the Spanish bits. Try as I might, I can't get them to go in properly. Sra. Fox would be very disappointed in me.]

Medical Miracle.

When Mike Lowell went under the knife back in October there was some concern that he wouldn't have enough time to fully recover before spring training got under way. I believe that there was some speculation that he might not be ready until May. It turns out that that may have been an extremely pessimistic view.

The promoter of the Puerto Rican team for the WBC seems to have taken the optimistic track:

"El promotor anunció que el antesalista Mike Lowell confirmó su disponibilidad para participar."

Leaning heavily on my, admittedly rusty, high school Spanish:

"The promoter announced that third baseman* Mike Lowell had confirmed his availability to play."

Good news, if true.

*I have no idea what 'antesalista' means but third baseman seems like a pretty good guess. Baseball positions just didn't come up very often in class. I have sussed out that 'lanzador' is pitcher, 'receptor' is catcher, and 'jardinero' is outfielder. Though, I suppose it could mean "Ignore everything else I just said. I'm lying." But that seems unlikely.

Moment 1: Get Down Tonight.

March 1. Florida.

First came the pictures. There really wasn't any sort of explanation to accompany those photos and we were left to wonder what sort of fabulous disaster could have led to their existence. And then on the next spring training game that NESN aired there was video. And it was more than the imagination could have ever come up with.

I can't even begin to express how much the sight of Dustin Pedroia clomping around arrhytmically while his pants fall off amuses me. But if I ever need a giggle, just the thought of that scene will suffice.

And so Mike Lowell's Dancing with the All-Stars event takes it's place as my favorite semi-related to baseball moment of 2008.

Moment 6: the Golden Paddle.

It's Christmas and, as a result, something light-hearted is absolutely required.



February 27. Fort Myers.

It started with Brian Roberts (I'm sure there are a lot of stories that have a bad result that start out in that exact manner.) He came out of the Arizona Performance Institute last winter with a story of work-out companion Dustin Pedroia challenging some hulking football player to a game of table tennis. Word got around, Comcast Sportsnet picked it up, and, in Mikey's own words, "this illustrious event" was born. Unfortunately for Pedroia, it turns out that Mike Lowell can whip any normal person's ass at Ping Pong.

My Mother Taught Me Well.

This photo of Mike Lowell rehabbing appeared on Bradford's 'EEI blog a few days ago. The first thing I noticed was not itty-bitty Mike Reinold's gigantic smile. Nor was it that Mike Lowell and I have very similar taste in socks. Nope. The first thing I noticed was the state of their walls. "Why are their walls so dirty?" I demanded of my computer. Seriously. You'd think that if they weren't going to clean them, they'd at least be able to afford a new coat of paint.

Four be the things I'd be better without: Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

The title comes from the Dorothy Parker poem: Inventory.

As much as I proclaim myself to be sort of blase about the series loss, I find myself unable to fall asleep. And since Mike Lowell goes under the knife later today, let's talk surgery.

Arthroscopic surgery can be performed under local anaesthesia as an out-patient procedure. But not Mikey's. Given the complicated structural nature of the hip with it's deep musculature, and the involvement of the vascular and nervous systems, it's better to perform the surgery under general anaesthesia when you can more easily regulate those functions; i.e. paralyze him, lower his blood pressure, and slow his heart rate so he doesn't gush blood all over the place. And to control the gross-out factor. One must never underestimate the gross-out factor.

The first step of the procedure is to yank his femur out of his socket (which is not only extremely painful and will leave him with a very impressive bruise afterward, it's also decidedly horrible-looking during the surgery.) The joint is separated so that the surgeon has room to work. He then makes two or three tiny (a centimeter or two long) slits through the tissue. Through one of these slits, he'll insert an arthroscope (similar to a straw, it's a hollow rod with a light and a camera attached to it.) He'll use the other slits to insert his other instruments.

Once he's in, the first step will be to debride (clean out) the joint. While cartilage is a fabulous substance (essentially it's strands of the protein collagen woven around water), it does have it's faults. It's main issue: it doesn't have a blood supply. When it gets damaged it takes a long time for it to fix itself. Inside Mike's acetabulum there will likely be pieces of broken-off cartilage floating around and the labrum will probably be shredded. Once the surgeon has scraped out the damaged cartilage, he'll throw a couple of stitches into what remains of the healthy labrum.

The next issue to be dealt with would be the impingement. I'm not certain that this problem was made clear before (so he might not have an impingement) but since Mike was talking about bone spurs with 'EEI, it's probably a safe assumption to make. An impingement is caused by an osteophyte (literally: bone growth) but not by a bone spur, as such. Essentially, the bone of Mike's femoral head has a bump on it. The bump limits his range of motion and bangs into his labrum. They'll deal with that issue by shaving off the growth. And if there aren't any other problems, close him up and wake him up.

I was rummaging recently and I came across this video:





It's from the Southern California Orthopedic Institute (I found it here-they actually have a much clearer description of what's going on in Mike's hip than I was able to muster) and it's the first in a series of videos of an actual hip arthroscopy.

Seriously: Don't click the video if you don't really want to know. It's an actual surgery and isn't pretty. It might, in fact, be described as gruesome. The surgeon asked "Hey! Can I record your procedure and then throw it up on YouTube?" and his patient replied "Go for it." Fair warning.

Casey the Generous.

Apparently, Sean Casey is not only passing out Woooooooo! shirts but also hats from his Labels are for Jars charity. Mikey's hat declares him to be 'Hungry'. Hopefully, that's hungry to play and hungry to win and hungry to be awesome. And if Mike bought the hat for himself, that's pretty cool too.

Playing Hookey.

Friday afternoon may be the perfect time to skip out of work early. Not because the weather is supposed to be fabulous (it isn't) but because the International Institute of Boston, Lowell, and Manchester is giving Mike Lowell their Golden Door Award at a Fenway Park luncheon that will be open to the public.

Poor Mikey.

Mike Lowell has been playing with a partially torn right acetabular labrum since late June.

The hip is a ball-and-socket joint. The head of the femur is the ball and the acetabulum is the name for the socket. Acetabulum comes from the Latin for 'cup' and is, essentially, a shallow indentation in the pelvic bone. It's a feature of the bone designed to give the femur a place to rest and the hip joint a place to work it's magic.

But the socket has to be shallow. If the femur was really jammed into the joint, the range of motion would be lessened. But if it was too shallow, there would be little to hold it in place and it would be easier for the ball to slip out and dislocate the joint-which is extremely painful. That's where the labrum comes into play.

The labrum is a collar-like ring of cartilage that sits on top of the socket. It's function is to make the joint a little bit deeper and help prevent dislocation. When a labrum tears, it becomes harder for it to function usefully. It becomes easier for the joint to slide around (subluxation) or for it to become completely dislocated.

Since they used the word partially to describe his injury and since he still has the use of his right leg, one can probably assume that the labrum is still mostly attached. The pain he's experiencing is probably just subluxation of the joint. But from the look of the pain he's in, it's probably a significant tear (and not just bits of broken off cartilage floating around in the joint.)

The injury shouldn't get significantly worse if he keeps playing. But he'll likely need someone to go in with an arthroscope within a few days of the season ending to patch it up.

*The illustration is from Gray's Anatomy and because Gray's is old, it's labeled as the cotyloid ligament. Also, fair warning: google image searches for acetabular labrum are not for the faint of heart.

Road Trip.

While Lowell and Pawtucket were playing at Fenway on minor league Saturday, Portland was taking a road trip down to Norwich, CT to play the CT Defenders. Cheap tickets to Fenway to watch super excited kids play ball seemed like the obvious choice of weekend activity. But then, it was brought to my attention that CT was giving away Mike Lowell bobbleheads. Obviously, this piece of information necessitated a jaunt down I-395.

Although CT is a Giants affiliate, it isn't as random or as exploitative as it might seem. Back in the day, when CT was Norwich, the club was the AA affiliate of the Yankees. Mikey Lowell played there in 1997.

Plastic, nodding Mike Lowell was apparently a big draw. While there were some fans of the home team, the vast majority of the folks there had donned Red Sox apparel for the game. It sort of reminded me of the game I went to in Tampa- a thousand Red Sox fans for every Rays fan (I did see two Rays caps while I was there-although it may have the same hat twice. I was so shocked when I saw it the first time that I didn't note the face beneath it.) What was fun was that the Red Sox fans were cheering for the home team as much as they were cheering for Portland.

And even though Zach Daeges attempted to kill me with a foul ball (Seriously: I have never been that close to a foul ball in my life. Generally, I'm already cowering in fear if one comes within a thirty-foot radius of where I'm sitting-so you can imagine my abject terror when this one landed in the first of four empty seats directly to my right. --It's a good thing I didn't leave Mikey up there.--What's more, I was so shocked that I didn't even get the ball. I just sort of watched it roll of the seat and on to the floor. The guy on the other side of the empty seats ended up grabbing it.), it was a good time. Bob Stanley was there (he's the Defenders pitching coach) so that was neat. I had hoped that Bard might get into the game but it was kind of a blow out so that didn't happen and Argenis Diaz didn't play (I had picked a seat on the first base side so I could get a good look at the kid) so that was kind of a bummer. But it was a fun time all around. And I got home in time to see Daisuke finish off the sixth inning of the White Sox game.

So here he is: Mike Lowell in purple pinstripes. It's probably a good thing that you can't really see them-the uniform is hideous.