I’d like to submit a new entry to the pantheon of sports voodoo alongside the Sports Illustrated cover jinx and the Madden curse: The Jerod Morris blogger hex.
Two weeks after setting off the latest mainstream-versus-blogger firestorm by freaking out over “some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother’s basement” Raul Ibanez has been placed on the disabled list with a strained left groin. Coincidence? Of course. But still.
Ibanez, who had avoided the DL since 2004, was just 5-for-27 (.185) with 11 strikeouts since calling one of Morris’ blog entries about him “pathetic and disgusting” and struggled to run out ground balls recently, so the Phillies decided to shut him down for at least a couple weeks.
John Mayberry Jr. has been called up from Triple-A to replace Ibanez after getting into three games during his first taste of the majors last month. The 6-foot-6 son of the former two-time All-Star with the same name, Mayberry has big-time power but has hit just .261 with a .323 on-base percentage and 141/51 K/BB ratio in 166 games at Triple-A.
As for Ibanez, his career-best season will be put on hold as he heads to the DL ranked second in the league in homers (22), runs (51), RBIs (59), slugging percentage (.656), and OPS (1.027). The good news is that he’ll have plenty of time to peruse the pathetic, disgusting blogosphere, and I’d suggest grabbing a laptop and finding a basement somewhere so he can maybe start a blogging hex of his own.