Good News Mets Fans: Luis Castillo's Injury Is Only Mild, Bad News Mets Fans: Niese Has Strained His Hamstring

Remember back at the start of the summer when I said that there would be some days where I won't be around that much if at all, and other days where blogging here is pretty much the only thing that I would be doing, yeah, this day is definitley the latter of those days. And that's not even taking into consideration the fact that I will be at The O Files this evening live blogging the 2-hour finale of I Survived A Japanese Game Show

If there has been one bit of consistency in baseball that fact is this: The New York Mets keep getting injured. And injured. And injured. And injured. 49er16 likes to call them the Triple-A Mets, well, pretty soon, they may be the Doulbe-A Mets. Last night, was the hilarious story of Luis Castillo (who made quite a few headlines for himself with his blunder against the Yankees) falling down the steps to the dugout and having to be helped to the back. Good news Mets fans, it's only a mild sprain! Via The New York Mets website (if you click on the link, you can see the hilarious video of Castillo falling)

After grounding out to second base leading off the inning, Luis Castillo slipped walking down the dugout steps and suffered a mild sprain of his left ankle.

As a result, Castillo was not in the lineup on Wednesday afternoon. Angel Berroa got the start at shortstop with Alex Cora moving over to Castillo's customary spots at second in the lineup and the field.

Castillo was in the ballpark receiving treatment before the game.

"We knew from last night that he'd be really sore today," manager Jerry Manuel said. "I kind of anticipate that it will be a day-to-day thing."

Manuel has used those words countless times in a season gone awry with injuries. The Mets' lineup has been without Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran for much of the year. But Castillo's injury topped them all in terms of absurdity, serving as a microcosm for the entire season.

And to think that that is the good news for the Mets fans in terms of the injury front! Now the bad news, yet another Mets starting pitcher is down with an injury. That pitcher, Jonathon Niese, strained his hamstring by inadvertantly doing the splits (I wish I was making this stuff up) and not only that, but Gary Sheffield may have re-aggrevated an injury. Once again, via the New York Mets website (click on the link to see video of Niese's splits gone awry)

The Mets' injury woes continued on Wednesday, as starting pitcher Jonathon Niese left the game in the top of the second inning with a strained right hamstring. The team sent Niese to the Hospital for Special Surgery for an MRI on his right leg.

Gary Sheffield also left in the sixth inning after appearing to aggravate his right hamstring issues following a single to left-center, but he walked off under his own power.

Niese had to stretch to receive a throw while covering first base on a potential 3-6-1 double play. He went into a split, however, missing the bag in the process. With manager Jerry Manuel and the training staff on the mound, Niese then collapsed in pain as he tried to throw a practice pitch. The young left-hander was helped off the field and into the clubhouse, declining to put any weight on that right leg.

Wow, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I almost feel sorry for the Mets. Do take note of the keyword in that sentence: almost. Ah, who am I kidding? This is hilarious! Trust me, if your team's bitter rival had so much hype around them coming into the year and this is the kind of season that they had with all of the failures and injuries and what not, you would be laughing just as hard as I am right now.

FYI, I'd embed the videos, but MLB and the team websites do not have an embed option with their videos for some reason.