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WASHINGTON » Stonefaced, disappointed and with no degree of amusement, Justin Bour stood before his locker Thursday morning at Nationals Park to help solve the latest Phillies mystery.
On the morning after his best game since being acquired from Miami, the left-handed-hitting veteran was shuffled to the
10-day disabled list with a left oblique injury. It was just one more troubling reverberation from a game in which he supplied a home run and an RBI double but the Phillies had lost on Ryan Zimmerman’s walkoff home run.
How did it happen? “When I swung, my last swing, last night, I felt a little bit of a grab in my oblique,” Bourn said, after a three-second delay. “It was one of those precautionary measures. And today I went on the D.L. We need guys who are going to be able to do the job
100 percent. And that’s the main reason for it.”
Though Bour nearly hit the Phillies to victory Wednesday, he did strike out in his final three atbats. Before that game, Gabe Kapler said Carlos Santana would return to his starting first base job Friday to fit Aaron Nola with the best possible defense.
Bour did not believe the injury would linger.
“I actually pulled my other oblique last year pretty bad, and this doesn’t feel anything like that,” he said. “So I anticipate this being a quick recovery and being back as soon as possible.”
For that, Bour might have been surprised by a quick rush to shut him down for 10 days, particularly with the Phils set for a weekend series in Toronto, where they will need a designated hitter.
“No,” Bour said, again after seeming to think first. “It’s what’s best for the team.”
Good for the Phillies or not, Bour acknowledged frustration.
“I think it goes without saying that this is not an ideal thing and not what I’d hoped would happen,” he said. “But my main focus is getting better as soon as I can and helping the team make a playoff push.”
*** Joining Bour on the 10day disabled list was Edubray Ramos, who was said to have a blister. Oddly, Ramos did not pitch Wednesday.
Conveniently, that allowed the Phillies to replace the right-hander in their bullpen with lefthander Luis Avilan, who was acquired in a minor trade Wednesday from the White Sox.
With lefties Aaron Loup and Austin Davis already on the D.L, and with Adam Morgan unable to supply consistency, Gabe Kapler was anxious to add a lefthanded reliever.
“Well, obviously whenever you get an opportunity to play with a team in a playoff race,” Avilan said, “you will feel really happy because that team believed you were going to help them.”
The 29-year-old veteran
of the Braves, Dodgers and White Sox, had 21 strikeouts and five walks this season against left-handed hitters, whom he’d limited to a .214 batting average.
“I try to do the same thing I do against the righties,” he said. “It’s just more effective against lefties.”
Avilan said he had played winter ball with Cesar Hernandez and had been a friend of Asdrubal Cabrera. As for Thursday, he was just trying to fit into a new system, and into uniform No. 70.
“This is a great group of guys,” he said. “I am really happy right now. With this team, we have the opportunity to maybe play in the playoffs.”
Ramos’ assignment to the disabled list was retroactive to Aug. 22.
*** When Andrew Knapp strolled into the clubhouse Thursday morning, the obvious quick conclusion was that the Phillies still were not sure about the sore left wrist of Wilson Ramos. But it was Bour, not Ramos, who hit the D.L.
Ramos was not in the starting lineup Thursday, missing a third consecutive game after being injured last Saturday when he took a pitch from Jake Arrieta off his wrist. Kapler believed the injury resulted from Ramos catching a pitch the wrong way in the Phils’ Sunday loss in Williamsport.
Either way, an MRI revealed no crisis points. Ramos said he will play Friday in Toronto.
“It’s good,” Ramos said. “A little sore. But I’m happy because on the MRI everything
was clear. The x-ray was negative. That made me feel good. The soreness I just have to take it easy and keep doing my exercises.”
Knapp had been sent to Class AAA Lehigh Valley once Ramos was cleared to catch after recovering from a hamstring injury.
The switch-hitting Knapp can play first base, making him a suitable replacement for Bour. But if Ramos suffers a setback, he provides an experienced alternative to Jorge Alfaro.