Hurting Period
I'm no maker of miracles, but I did manage to get Jason Van Meetren to (semi) admit he has been affected by the quad injury he sustained at the tail end of the Outlaws' last homestand over a week and a half ago.
Van Meetren went into the six-game road swing through Orange County and St. George with that slight pain in the upper part of his right leg and, not counting a 2-for-6, six-RBI outburst (bolstered by a grand slam home run) against the Roadrunners last Thursday, finished out the week 3-for-19 with a lone RBI and a pair of walks.
Van Meetren has punched his ticket in Chico these past three seasons as being the ultimate gamer and a clubhouse leader not interested in making excuses for any lack of sucess, so it's not surprising he downplayed the impact of the injury on his hitting woes.
"(The injury) was there and I did feel it at times but in no way was it a reason for not being able to hit the ball," he said before the Outlaws' 4-1 win over Yuma last night. "I had one good day and a few bad ones, and that's just how it goes when you're on the road sometimes."
"At the moment, I'm pretty much 100 percent and ready to go out there and play normally."
Van Meetren ended up going 0-for-4 last night and is currently batting .156, making the reigning Golden Baseball League All-Star MVP the only player in last night's Chico starting lineup batting under .200.