The Rays, coming off a series win against the Chicago White Sox were given some bad news today regarding gold glove OF Kevin Keirmaier. Keiermeir suffered a hip injury sliding into first base last night, dislocated his hip and will miss the next two months of the season.
Keirmaier had struggled up to this point in the season after signing a $53 million dollar contract extension during spring training. He had committed 6 errors already this season in 62 games while last year Keirmaier committed 2 errors in 102 games. Offensively Keirmaier was also struggling hitting just .258 with 7 HR’s and 20 RBI’s.
The Rays had been playing better than anticipated this season and looked like they could possibly challenge for a wild card spot. With Keirmaier out, the chances of any kind of playoff spot have pretty much vanished.
Last year with Keirmaier out with his injury, the Rays went 14-34 in his absence and were 5-24 at one point during June. Hopefully the June swoon will not come back and haunt the Rays this year like it did a year ago. The Rays did call up OF Mallex Smith from Durham, and Manager Kevin Cash said that Smith will be the CF in Keirmaier’s absence.
Smith was hitting .311 at Durham with 3 Hr’s and 8 RBI’s. In his brief time with the Rays this season, Smith hit .261 with no homers and 3 RBI’s. Smith will bat in the lead off spot against Oakland tonight.
The Rays also received bad news regarding the injury to SS Matt Duffy. His rehab assignment has been shut down, as the pain in his heel has become to unbearable for him to play. Duffy is currently getting evaluated and hoping to find out what the options are available to him. It is looking more and more like Duffy may not get back until after the all-star break. Duffy had surgery on his heel in September and was supposedly going to be ready for spring training.
P Brad Boxberger and C Wilson Ramos continue their rehab assignment in Port Charlotte with mixed results. Boxberger gave up three runs in an inning of work last night, while Ramos is alternating between catcher and DH every other day. Ramos is catching 3-5 innings a game when he is behind the plate, as he works his way back to catching a full nine innings.
2B Brad Miller’s injury is believed to be more serious than first thought and he was placed on the 10 day DL yesterday. The Rays are hoping Peter Bourjos will be available this weekend. Bourjos is returning from Port Charlotte on a rehab assignment recovering from a case of “tennis elbow”.
The Rays season continues to mirror the movie Groudhog Day as this season is shaping up to be a mirror of last season with all the injuries. It just seems like the Rays can’t catch a break (no pun intended).
Photo Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays
