The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
48°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Injuries ruin Mets’ season

The Mets’ David Wright is helped off the field after being hit in the helmet by a pitch last weekend. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
The Mets’ David Wright is helped off the field after being hit in the helmet by a pitch last weekend. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

The disabled list looks like an All-Star roster.

Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran. And now David Wright.

All four offensive stars on the fading New York Mets are sidelined with substantial injuries, rendering a $136 million team conspicuously irrelevant as baseball’s pennant races heat up.

Blame it on bad luck, poor planning or both, but the result is undeniable: A season that began with high expectations and the opening of a cozy new ballpark has crumbled into a painful wreck for the broken-down Mets.

“It seems like everything goes against us,” ace pitcher Johan Santana said. “It’s just crazy.”

Santana is one of the only stalwarts still standing.

Delgado has been sidelined since May 11 due to right hip surgery. Reyes hasn’t played since May 20 because of an excruciating hamstring injury. Beltran went down June 22 with a bone bruise on his right knee. And then came Wright, the most frightening of them all.

The All-Star third baseman was beaned with a 94 mph fastball last weekend from San Francisco pitcher Matt Cain, leaving Wright with a concussion. He spent a night in the hospital and landed on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his six-year career.

New York’s arms haven’t been immune, either.

Starting pitcher John Maine has been out since June 7 with a sore shoulder. Setup man J.J. Putz is rehabbing from June 9 surgery to remove a bone spur from the back of his right elbow. Left-hander Oliver Perez missed more than two months with tendinitis in his right knee.

Even the subs can’t seem to stay healthy. Outfield prospect Fernando Martinez (right knee surgery), left-hander Jonathon Niese (torn hamstring tendon) and right-hander Fernando Nieve (torn thigh muscle) all went down.

Clearing the bases

Tim Wakefield will replace struggling Brad Penny in the Boston Red Sox rotation. Manager Terry Francona said Wakefield, who has been on the DL since July 21 with a strained lower back, will start Wednesday night against the Chicago White Sox. … Colorado Rockies starter Aaron Cook was placed on the 15-day DL with a right shoulder strain. … Former big league closer Armando Benitez, 36, and the Houston Astros have agreed to a minor league contract.