Tigers' Inge knows Utley's pain
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Tigers' Inge knows Utley's pain
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Brandon Inge has felt Chase Utley’s pain.
The Detroit Tigers third baseman played the entire 2009 season with patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Utley, the Phillies All-Star second baseman, is currently sidelined by the same injury in his right knee and the team revealed Wednesday that it has not improved with a cortisone injection.
Though no two cases are exactly the same, Inge's injury sounded familiar enough to Phillies manager Charlie Manuel that he asked the Tigers third baseman to call Utley.
Inge said Utley has two options: season-ending surgery or playing through intense pain.
That explains why Utley and the Phillies are exhausting all non-operative options. Inge's description of the surgery was also grim.
He faced the same decision in 2009 when he was diagnosed with patellar tendinitis in spring training and he decided to play through the pain.
"The pain that is associated with it is not fun," Inge said. "It’s a tough thing to play through."
After hitting .230 with 27 home runs and 84 RBIs in 2009, Inge opted for surgery in November and was ready to play opening day last season. But he said he did not feel significantly better until spring training this year.
"I played an entire year with it, then had the surgery and then an entire year last year recovering from it and it’s not fun," he said. "This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable. There is not much you can do about it."
"They don't just do arthroscopic surgery -- they open you up," Inge said, lifting his uniform to reveal a five-inch scar on his left knee. Surgery was frustrating ... because the recovery is slow. In the beginning part, it’s painful."
Inge said the procedure included the drilling of three holes in his kneecap.
It was obvious that Inge's pain was caused by something similar to what Utley is going through. When the Tigers third baseman was shown the new word -- chrondromalacia -- the Phillies are using to describe Utley's injury he immediately knew how to pronounce it.
"It's patellar tendinitis," he said. "Even if he does have the surgery, it's never going to be the same. I wish I had better news and I hope the best for him."
You can read more about Inge's take on Utley's injury in Thursday's Inquirer.
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Reading this literally makes me sick 2 my stomach. Sounds like Utley's not only done 4 this year, but we may never see the Utley of old again during the next 3 years on his contract...— DaHurricane- Well that is discouraging for Chase the player and the man...He makes a lot of money, but this will affect his home life, children as he gets older, and as he gets to be an old man...— phigglesfan75
Well Polly is a Gold Glove 2nd baseman if we can find a guy to play third....- Long contracts will kill you. Howard will come back to bite us next. Bottom line is he should have had surgery the day after the season ended, but Mr. Tough Guy didnt.— gluteman
- Yep Chase as we knew him is done. This is the chance you take when you sign guys long term through their mid 30's....especially when they play as hard as Utley. Cant blame Rube for locking him up when he did, and Id have done the same. Just so happens unfortunately the Phillies will be burned by this the next 3 years. Next in line is Ryan Howards conract that will bind this team.— Big D phillies fan
- I thought I read somewhere that the surgery was not all that invasive? In any case, I guess all those people who kept insisting this was nothing finally see what we're really dealing with here
- Key points: (1) you know Utley will eventually decide to play through this, although I certainly feel for him, (2) Utley had the same or similar symptoms in previous camps, as suggested by recent articles, and it subsided, (3) Inge still hit 27 homers and had 84 RBIs in '09, and I'd take that any day of the week, (4) no two injuries are the same, perhaps Inge's was more severe. Utley will play and be fine. Frankly, I'm more worried about other guys in their lineup picking up the slack, ie. Rollins (has been down for a few years now), Victorino (had a bad year by his standards last year), Ibanez, Francisco/Gload (can these guys really hold it down over there?).— SLP2009
- what a blow. this is such a bummer.— jayflyte
- SLP2009 - Utley has already said he can't play at this point. To me that signals this pain is much worse than anything he has experienced before. You are right that no two injuries are the same, but I don't think you can blow Inge off.— kmon
- Hmm..Michael Young...— malaysian mink
- Instead of playing a year through pain, missing one through surgery the year after, and not really being the same until the year after that, do the surgery now and save a year. We can try to weather the storm with the pitching. No point in pushing the whole process back a year to "gut" it out, put up subpar numbers and then have the surgery.— DennyP
- wilson valdez is better than a lame utley. this marks the dividing line between phils and yanks. the yanks would shrug, pay him, cut him, and buy another player. we are stuck for years.— barrywil
- Well than he should play through the pain for this season. Our window with our aging core/pitching staff is this year and next. Let him play 130 games and rest him for the playoffs.
- During Game 6 against the Giants, Utley jogged toward a ground ball that got through the infield, and led to a big inning by the Giants. I started screaming about Utley not running for the ball. I later saw the replay and saw that Utley was running, he was just really slow. I kind of realized then that he was the new Nomar. An absolute stud of a player who was taken down by a few minor injuries, and was never the same player. Good thing Utley is the Golden Boy for Phillies fans and never ever has to face any criticism.— AreaMan
- "wilson valdez is better than a lame utley. this marks the dividing line between phils and yanks. the yanks would shrug, pay him, cut him, and buy another player. we are stuck for years." Can we be done with fans like yourself or are we stuck with you.
— pattymac3
