It’s a good thing they played only three games at AT&T Park in China Basin. One more game and they might have run out of players or suffered an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
“Good thing we’re tenacious,’’ said veteran Tim Wakefield. “It’s not fun to watch and it’s very concerning seeing the injuries we’ve accumulated.’’
Friday night it was Pedroia flopping in the dirt around home plate like a salmon on dry land after fouling a ball off his foot. Pedroia got up and took one more pitch (ball four) before he was lifted for a pinch runner. He hobbled around the clubhouse on crutches for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday it was Buchholz pulling up short like a wounded deer as he ran toward second base on a grounder to third by Marco Scutaro. Buchholz was done for the day even though he’d only pitched an inning. The Sox weren’t taking any chances.
Yesterday it was Martinez taking a foul ball off his left thumb (and foot) while Pablo Sandoval batted in the bottom of the second. Martinez ran into the middle of the infield trying to make the pain go away. He finally crumpled into a heap on the far side of the mound. Manager Terry Francona and trainer Mike Reinold came out to see if Martinez could continue.
The catcher stayed in the game, finished the inning, then came to bat and flied to center in the top of the third. He caught Lester in a lengthy bottom of the third, taking another painful pitch off the top of the left thumb with Andres Torres at bat. Martinez came out for the fourth, took some warm-up tosses, but was in obvious pain. The manager came out to get his catcher and Jason Varitek was summoned to finish the game behind the dish.
“He was X-rayed here and they found a fracture,’’ said Francona. “The glove doesn’t necessarily protect you in that spot. He’ll be examined tomorrow. It’s not a given that he goes on the disabled list. It was swollen. That’s what was bothering him.’’
