Hanley Ramirez, the National League’s other extremely disappointing superstar, was held out of Monday’s lineup after leaving Sunday’s game with lower back soreness. He told the Palm Beach Post the discomfort there and in his upper left leg “the worst pain I’ve ever had in my life, in my career.”
Ramirez said the back has been bothering him for “maybe a month,” but that he kept it secret from everyone except manager Edwin Rodriguez.I feel it doing anything. I can’t even put my shoes on. To get up from bed I have to take 10, 15 seconds. I have to do everything slow. That’s the worst pain Ive ever had in my life, in my career, that back…
I’m getting tingles in my (upper left) leg. That’s not a good sign. That’s what we’re worried about right now, to get this thing out of my leg.
Incredibly, Ramirez still hasn’t seen a doctor about the problem, though it looks like he’ll finally be forced to now. An MRI also seems likely.
The back isn’t necessarily the root of Ramirez’s problems: he’s actually played quite a bit better this month than he did in April. Still, it’s definitely an issue and the Marlins may want to stash him on the DL to see if he can come back at 100 percent in a couple of weeks.