Quote of the Day: Davey Johnson on Phillies’ fans

By Aug 22, 2011, 9:58 AM EDT
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Baiting Philly fans is, like, 40% of my job description, but I could jaw at ’em for a month and not do it quite as elegantly as Davey Johnson did after yesterday’s Nats-Phillies game:

“You gotta sit back down,” chuckling Nats Manager Davey Johnson said of all those invading fans who had to flop back in their seats en masse when Ian Desmond hit the most difficult kind of comeback homer that’s possible in baseball — down to your last strike, nobody on base.

That comes from Tom Boswell’s latest column about the weekend series in Washington in which all of the Phillies fans that come down and fill the park left sad after two of the three games.  Oh, and Johnson added this, which probably makes Boston fans a bit sad too:

“Kind of reminded me a little of ’86 [in the World Series] when the Red Sox were up on the front step [to celebrate] and then they started creeping back.”

Davey Johnson: master troll. As if I didn’t love him already.

Astros star Altuve has surgery on broken thumb, a WBC injury

Associated PressMar 22, 2023, 6:11 PM EDT
Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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Houston Astros star Jose Altuve had surgery Wednesday on his broken right thumb, an injury that occurred in the World Baseball Classic and will significantly delay the second baseman’s 2023 debut.

The Astros announced that the 32-year-old Altuve had the procedure done in Houston and will stay there to begin his rehabilitation, with only one week left in spring training. The Astros will fly there on Sunday following their final Grapefruit League game in Florida, before playing a pair of exhibitions against their Triple-A team, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, in Texas.

Altuve was hit by a pitch on Saturday while playing for Venezuela in the WBC. He might not be ready to return to the lineup until at least late May. The eight-time All-Star and 2017 American League MVP batted .300 with 103 runs, 28 homers and 18 steals for the World Series champion Astros last season. Mauricio Dubón and David Hensley are the leading candidates to fill in for Altuve at second base.

Altuve isn’t the only Major League Baseball star who was hurt in WBC play, of course. Mets closer Edwin Díaz will miss the 2023 season because of a torn patellar tendon in his right knee as the freak result of an on-field celebration following a WBC win by the Puerto Rico national team.

BROWN DOWN

The Astros also scratched right-hander Hunter Brown from his scheduled start Wednesday against the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Brown, who is ranked by MLB as the organization’s top prospect and competing for the last spot in the rotation, has discomfort in his lower back.

NOT QUITE READY

The New York Mets sent catcher Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse, quashing for now the possibility of putting the prized 21-year-old on the opening day roster.

Álvarez, who made his major league debut with the Mets near the end of last season, had just three hits in 28 at-bats in Grapefruit League exhibition games. Ranked by MLB as the third-best prospect in baseball, Álvarez batted .260 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in a combined 112 minor league games in 2022 at Double-A and Triple-A.

The Mets have newcomer Omar Narváez, a 2021 All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers, as their primary catcher with Tomás Nido likely to play mostly against left-handed pitchers.

Speaking of the Mets, Díaz turned 29 on Wednesday – a rather subdued milestone for the right-hander considering his situation. Diaz nonetheless posted in Spanish an upbeat message on his Twitter account, thanking God for another year of life and describing his health as good and his outlook as positive in this initial stage of the roughly eight-month rehabilitation process.