Max MUNCY knew he was lucky after His ugly knee injury Earlier, this month turned out to be nothing more than bone bruising.
But, when the doctors explained how much he had just suffered from something worse, the way Michael A. Taylor slipped into his leg to the third goal on July 2, even Muncy was amazed by the infinitesimal margins.
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“If the timing was only a different millisecond anyway,” it was said, “you probably look at surgery, and do for a long time.”
Instead, barely two weeks away from the outside of his folded knee inward on this game, Muncy was doing early work at the Dodger stadium on Friday afternoon; Run in the outside field, play Catch with coaches and perform agility exercises in front of coaches without any obvious sign of pain or discomfort.
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“We are pleasantly, undeveloped, but satisfied with the place in which I am at the moment,” said Muncy later, after having also taken oscillations for the first time since his injury earlier Friday afternoon. “It feels good. I light up well. I progress quickly. We try to be intelligent on this subject and understand where we are, and what it will take to return to the field. But we are in a very good place … We are a little where we think we should be. ”
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Otherwise, it seems, already a few steps in advance.
While Muncy was initially missing about six weeks with his bruises at the left knee bone, manager Dave Roberts learned a more optimistic tone because the Riders opened the second half of their season.
“It is in great shape right now,” said Roberts on Friday. “I don’t really know a chronology. But I know … it’s going to be much earlier than expected, which is good for all of us. ”
Since Muncy – who was one of the hottest strikers in baseball in May and June – was injured, the Dodgers did not look like the same offense. In their last 11 games entering Saturday, the club had a 3-8 sheet, on average less than three points per game, and fighting to fill the gaping hole that their third basic player left in the middle of the programming.
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Since the beginning of July, only the pinch Pittsburgh pirates have been worse than the average dodgers in the stick (0.205) and OPS (0.594).
“We still have a lot of good players,” said Roberts. “But yes, there is a certain line of demarcation when Max is not in programming, what happens to our offense.”
Dodgers’ problems, of course, go beyond the absence of Muncy. Shohei Ohtani,, Mookie Betts And Freddie Freeman have all struck in recent times (or, in the case of Betts, for a large part of the season). Teoscar Hernández And Tommy Edman are far from their typical standard since the return of injuries in May. And the depth options that the dodgers have called provided some life sparks.
However, Mancy estimates that it is a long -term pin in the long -term potential of dodgers on the plate – with its increasingly important recovery while the rest of the range wades in its wake.
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“We have been able to understand how to do something,” said Voltueur Michael Comforto, chief among the dodgers sub-performants this season. “Each time we are going there, we expect to score, and that’s what we do all year round. It’s just one of those stretching (where it’s) a little more difficult to get started. But, you know, obviously, we have confidence in our guys, and some big names here who have made their careers on races and guys to score guys. I think we are going well.”
Muncy, of course, is one of these proven names.
And in another lucky stroke with his recovery, he remains confident that his injury will have no significant impact on his swing once he returns.
“If (the injury) was inside the knee, it would probably be another story,” said Muncy. “But just outside, I think it’s a good place, knowing that I don’t feel it at all when I push back.”
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Muncy tested this theory for the first time on Friday, taking light swings in the cage which, according to him, felt good “.
“It’s a lot of work, more work than playing in the game, which is always zero,” said Muncy about his rehabilitation process. “But that’s how it is for a reason … You don’t want to have other injuries that are a side effect.”
So far, even this last concern has been repressed, Muncy noting that “there are no persistent side effects with him”.
“Overall,” he reiterated, “we are about as lucky as possible.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
