It’s no fun being mature, and Bret Boone has spent most of his adult life avoiding it whenever possible.
On Wednesday, however, faced with one of those ugly grown-up decisioins, Boone went with maturity and admitted he couldn’t play baseball.
After a week of trying to play through back pain, Boone suffered a strained left hip flexor, and the pain was enough to get him to agree to sitting out a game.
In fact, Boone admitted it might be longer than that.
“I hate not playing if I can walk out on the field, no matter what’s hurting,” Boone said. “But they think part of this was caused by my over-compensating for the back. And if I play on it too soon, I’ll blow something else out.”
Manager Bob Melvin said Boone was day-to-day in availability, but hinted it could be four or five days before the Mariners get their second baseman back.
“That’s tough, because he’s such a big part of our offense,” Melvin said.
In 29 games this season, Boone is batting .248 but shares the team lead in home runs (6) and is the outright leader in RBI (18).
“I’m not 100 percent his back is totally healthy, either,” Melvin said. “I told him today, we’ve got to get you healthy. A day may not do it and two days may not do it, but we can’t let these injuries get worse.”
In Boone’s absence, Jolbert Cabrera will likely start at second base.
The M’s shouldn’t have taken you, either: Closer Eddie Guardado was asked by a Minneapolis columnist Tuesday whether, if he had it to do over, he’d have signed with the Seattle Mariners as a free agent. “I’m not going to lie,” Guardado said. “No.”
Name game: As names go, Rich Aurilia wouldn’t appear to be a tough one to pronounce. But in Minneapolis, simpler names have evaded the grasp of Twins Hall of Fame public address announcer Bob Casey.
Last year, for instance, he introduced Gil Meche to the crowd as Gil “Moosch.”
On Tuesday, Aurilia’s first-ever game in the Metrodome, Casey mispronounced his name before every at-bat and once dropped a “Rick Aguilera” on him.
“Rick pitched for the Giants before I was there and one spring training one of the Giants coaches called me Rick Aguilera all through camp,” Aurilia said.
Honored: The Twins celebrated the election of Paul Molitor into baseball’s Hall of Fame by inducting him into their own Hall of Flame. A Minnesota-born player, Molitor – now the Mariners hitting coach – played for the Twins from 1996-1998. He was joined in the ceremony by fellow Twins Jack Morris, Harmon Killebrew and Dave Winfield.
Around the horn: Seattle’s 18 hits Tuesday included 17 singles and a triple, tying a Mariners club record for most one-base hits in a game. The team record for singles in a game without an extra-base hit is 16 – set in 1985. … Dan Wilson has 88 career home runs in Seattle, and his next will give him sole possession of eighth place on the team’s all-time list. He’s currently tied with Tino Martinez, 17 homers beind No. 7, Ken Phelps.
Larry LaRue,
The News Tribune
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