OVER AND OUT
The season very possibly is over for Yankees second baseman Stephen Drew.
But in the far bigger picture, although it is disappointing, it has not been his major worry.
Drew went for an MRI exam on his brain Tuesday and while the tests did not reveal what he called any “serious stuff,” he possibly has suffered a concussion after being hit by a deflected grounder that may have triggered a recurrence of a vestibular system issue. The vestibular is the innerear system that controls balance and eye movements. Drew had a serious vestibular problem in 2013.
“From the MRI, the good news is they were basically checking some serious stuff and that showed negative, but on the concussion side it’s kind of leaning toward that,” Drew said Tuesday night after the Yankees’ 104 loss to the Red Sox at the Stadium.
“They’re going to do some more tests and try to figure it out and go from there because of the way I’m feeling. It’s like in 2013 in Boston,” said Drew who has been plagued by dizziness, among other issues, since the ground ball struck him after flicking off his glove during a doubleheader Sept. 12. “It’s more or less the vestibular. They’re trying to pinpoint it. There is no time frame. I could wake up tomorrow and feel really good.”
In 2013, Drew said he was hit the second day of spring training and was out for three months.
Drew last played Sept. 22 and probably is done for the season, manager Joe Girardi said.
“My thought is we haven’t really seen any improvement for 10 days, two weeks, so I don’t know what’s going to turn it around,” Girardi said. “Right now, we’re playing it like we’re not going to have him.”
So that means a leftyrighty platoon of Dustin Ackley and Rob Refsnyder would continue for the foreseeable future. Ackley played Tuesday against Red Sox righty Rick Porcello and homered.
“I know it’s to that point,” Drew said of possibly not playing again this season. “It’s kind of disheartening but at the same time, I’ve got to get this things under control. That’s my goal and go from there.”
So this could be one time when an athlete may be thankful for “only” a concussion.
“In the long run that’s the symptoms I’ve been having,” Drew said. “With the vestibular, when I had it in ’13 it was really severe. You go back on the play when the ball deflected off the glove and hit me in the face. I don’t think much about it and keep playing. It just progressed got worse. It’s that play. There was nothing else in the season.”