The Broncos and the Injury Bug: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

With the Broncos' beleaguered defense already dealing with the absence of its best player, Champ Bailey, who's out for another three weeks with a groin injury, now the news of the hour is that its second best player, linebacker DJ Williams, will miss a month or possibly the rest of the season with ligament damage in his left knee.

Williams, the team leader in total tackles (77) and solo tackles (57), has been enjoying a resurgence in his play after an offseason move back to his original position of weak side linebacker. He also racked up 2.5 sacks before succumbing to the Broncos' snake-bitten ways.

So where do the Broncos go from here? With the Flying Bailey Brothers, Williams, and now free safety Marlon McCree also questionable for Thursday night's contest with Cleveland, are the Broncos going to be able to scrounge up 11 able-bodied players to line up opposite the opposing offense?

No word yet on whether Mike Shanahan and the Broncos are considering Marky Mark Wahlberg Invincible-esque tryouts yet, but I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Addendum: Since writing this article, the Broncos have placed two more top contributors on the injured reserve list in starting running back Michael Pittman and backup butterfinger Andre Hall.

That means our historically successful running game will be reduced to a rookie with three NFL carries to his name who is coming off major elbow surgery and a former starter who will wind up about 1,500 yards short of his public boast to rush for over 2,000 yards this season. Oh, and he hasn't played since Week 5. Ryan Torain and Selvin Young, the onus is now on you to bring us out of our offensive funk.

Good luck...you're going to need it.

Rox Recap 5/25/08 (An Army of the Dead that Bruce Campbell Would Kill To Lead)

Just when you thought it was safe to root for the Rockies, they throw you another curveball. This wasn't your run of the mill yakker, this was a Taylor Buchholz snapdragon. Along with the recent placing of our starting right fielder and our hottest hitter on the disabled list, our Triple Crown leader (batting average, home runs, and rbi) has sat out the last two games with a stiff neck (is that really an injury?), and our starting centerfielder has recently skinned his knee and his mommy won’t let him play with the other boys until it heals. On top of that entire mess, now we have to deal with Big Daddy, Matt Holliday, arguably the best hitter in all of baseball sitting out for at least a couple weeks with a strained hamstring suffered in yesterday’s ballgame. If you follow the Colorado Springs Sky Sox religiously (and if you do, um, congrats) you would be very familiar with the lineup Skip Hurdle picked out of a hat today. Here was our starting 9:

CF Scott Podsednik
2B Johnny Herrera
1B Todd Helton
LF Ryan Spilborghs
RF Seth Smith
3B Ian Stewart
C Yorvit Torrealba
SS Omar Quintanilla
P Aaron Cook

Compare that to our Opening Day lineup and you’ll see what we’re dealing with:

CF Willy Taveras (bum knee)
SS Troy Tulowitzki (torn groin…that hurts even to type)
1B Todd Helton (having Vietnam flashbacks of the Big Head Todd and the Toddlers days)
LF Matt Holliday (strained hammy)
3B Garrett Atkins (stiff neck…seriously, take a Motrin or something)
RF Brad Hawpe (strained hammy…calisthenics anyone?)
C Yorvit Torrealba (and Iannetta isn’t playing…why?)
2B Jayson Nix (didn’t understand that offense was a part of the game)
P Jeff Francis (if I knew why he’s been so terrible, I’d be on the Rox bankroll)

I know we’re not the only team to deal with injuries and no one’s going to feel sorry for us, but this is getting pretty ridiculous. The good news is though, we took 2 of 3 from the NY Mets and finished the homestand with a winning record of 5-4 thanks to a hella performance from Cookie and an prodigious blast from rookie Seth Smith.

1) What can you say about Cookie that hasn’t been said about Will Smith? He always comes to the rescue, he always gives you his all, and he always makes it look good…at least this year. With Carlos Beltran’s 9^th inning groundout (and a ridiculous stop by Johnny Herrera who’s quickly becoming a walking Web-Gem) Big Red finished off his 7^th career complete game and his first since last July 25^th when he needed only 75 pitches to dispatch the Fathers. He worked ahead in the count all day using his bread and butter sinker to induce 16 ground ball outs while striking out 3 and walking only 1. With a 7-3 record and a 2.82 ERA, Cookie is cruising towards an All-Star berth where he won’t even need a pity pick from Skip Hurdle, the National League All-Star manager (Would he still be the manager if he gets fired before the All-Star break? Just a thought.) He’s our ace and he sure pitched like it today in a game we needed.

2) Congrats to last year’s postseason hero Seth Smith who blasted his first career home run into the Rox’ bullpen in right center field. Up until his heroics in the 4^th, the Rox hadn’t mustered anything off Mets starter John Maine. In fact, they hadn’t even squared up a ball and had struck out 6 times in 3 innings. Todd walked, Spilly reached on an error by Jose Reyes, and then came Smith who took a 2-2 fastball on the inside corner and turned it into a souvenir. Those 3 runs were all Cook would need as he finished off the Metties in economical fashion.

The Rox now embark on a tough 3 team, 10 day, 10 game, 3 time zone road trip that will take them to Philly, Chi-Town, and finishing up with three games against Los Los Angeles Doyers. With our AAA lineup, it’s going to be hard to keep up with the smash mouth (All Star) offenses of the Phillies and Cubs, but this homestand was a step in the right direction, even if it didn’t seem that way. I don’t know if we have to perform some kind of ritual to keep the injury bug off our backs but we’re running out of healthy bodies. Can Dinger swing a bat?