Here’s hoping Florida Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez and outfielder Mike Stanton don’t hit their fourth home runs any time soon. Seems that homer No. 4 has some DL voodoo attached to it for the Marlins. Two games after hitting his team-leading fourth homer of the season, Logan Morrison hit the DL with an injured left foot. On Monday, Chris Coghlan tied LoMo for the team lead at four with a two-homer game against the Dodgers, only to take himself out of yesterday’s game after his right shoulder was too sore to continue playing.
Coghlan was expected to come to spring training with concerns about his surgically repaired left knee, which was injured while awkwardly delivering a pie to the face of Wes Helms in a post-game celebration last July. The big question was would Cogs’ knee handle the transition from third base to center field? The knee was fine, but there was some shoulder discomfort during camp due to the fact that he was busy rehabbing the knee versus getting his arm ready. Coghlan was moved to the back fields midway through spring training in hopes that his arm would come around. Apparently, after a month (and four home runs), it has only gotten worse. He’s listed as day to day, but for a player to tell his manager he needs to come out of a game is never a good sign.
And to make matters worse for the Marlins in the slugging department, LoMo, who is scheduled to come off the DL on May 5, will probably be held back another week to make sure his injury isn’t aggravated by an early return. Morrison has been saying how eager he is to get back in the lineup, but word came down yesterday that the Marlins would rather be safe than sorry by rushing him back.
Sanchez has three home runs and Stanton has two heading into this weekend’s three-game series in Cincinnati. Here’s hoping both tip-toe quietly by the four-homer mark without injury.
