Sports Page Atlanta

Going into yesterday’s game, Mark Kotsay had his second consecutive day off due to back spasms, and it appeared that he may have been heading to the disabled list. Three hours later, things changed immensely.

Matt Diaz, on a pop fly down the left field line, slid into the wall and banged his knee against exposed concrete underneath the padded wall. Why do ball parks not place padding from the top to the bottom of the wall? Well, lunacy for one, but that’s another entry for another time.

If the Braves were to disable Kotsay along with Diaz, that would leave Omar Infante as the presumptive starting CF. If not Infante, then who? Bring up Brandon Jones for LF and play Gregor Blanco in center? Certainly a possibility considering Blanco’s early season success. But, the bigger story in this whole situation is Jordan Schaffer. This situation is screaming for the big league debut of Wonderboy. What? A 50-game HGH suspension? Crap.

So, what now? Kotsay needs to play. We all expected him to take days off to rest the back, after all, he did only play 56 games last season. But, if he’s able, he needs to suck it up right now. We all were teased with his early season surge, and the Braves absolutely need him in the lineup, in whatever spot Bobby decides to hit him, immediately.

A collision with the left-field wall in foul territory will land outfielder Matt Diaz on the disabled list after he strained his posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Diaz will visit physicians to have an MRI today. If the strain is actually a tear, Diaz could be out for quite some time.

After two seasons of hitting in a platoon situation, and doing it quite well with a 2006 batting average of .327 and a 2007 batting average of .338, Diaz was given the full time job in left field to start 2008. He’s had a rough go at it, hitting .250 in 132 at-bats, and hitting .333 versus left-handed pitchers and only .182 against right-handed pitchers. There have been rumors around Braves camp about Diaz going back to a platoon situation (probably the right decision), but those will be put on hold until the severity of this injury is known.

photo credit: gravely

There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about Matt Diaz platooning once again. On Monday, the left fielder went 3-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and 2 runs scored.

Since 2006, when Diaz joined the Braves, he is currently 6th in batting average for major leaguers with at least 700 at-bats during that time. The rest of the list is pretty darn impressive (even the number one guy)

Top-6 batting average leaders since 2006

1. Chipper Jones - .340
2. Matt Holliday - .333
3. Ichiro Suzuki - .332
4. Derek Jeter - .332
5. Albert Pujols - .330
6. Matt Diaz - .329