Rahmatulla lost for CWS
The UCLA baseball team was dealt a devastating blow on Monday night, when it was discovered that starting second baseman and three-hole hitter Tyler Rahmatulla suffered a broken right wrist and would be lost for the College World Series, which begins for the Bruins at 4 p.m. Saturday against Florida at Rosenblatt Stadium.
"I found out about it yesterday afternoon," UCLA head coach John Savage said on Tuesday. "It was bothering him, but I really didn't think it was much, to be quite honest. They X-rayed it, found out it was a broken wrist."
Rahmatulla injured the wrist during the team's post-game celebration following an 8-1 win over Cal State Fullerton in the deciding game of the Los Angeles Super Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Sunday night.
Ecstasy to agony: Rahmatulla was 5-for-14 in the super regional with four RBIs and two runs, including a two-run home run on Saturday night that put the Bruins up 7-6 in the top of the ninth inning.
"I just feel terrible for Tyler," Savage said of Rahmatulla, who was batting .328 with a team-leading 52 runs for the season. "I know the team feels really bad for him. We had yesterday off, we'll practice here in a bit and let everyone know it's another setback to deal with. We'll deal with it. We'll handle it."
This isn't the first time UCLA has been chomped, chewed and spit out by the injury bug.
The Bruins lost freshman outfielder Cody Keefer earlier this season to a leg injury after 45 games, but the loss of Rahmatulla cannot be understated.
Defensively, the Bruins should be fine, with Savage throwing out several options: shift Cody Regis from third base to second and slide Dean Espy to third or move Trevor Brown or Adrian Williams into the starting lineup.
But offensively, Rahmatulla leaves a gaping hole in the third spot, where he's hit in 61 of 62 games.
"We have options, but Tyler has hit third in 61 games," Savage said. "Who's gonna hit third? That's the bigger question. Offensively, we'll have to make some adjustments and put some people in. We were shocked. We have to have a day at least to get to it."
Whatever happened to the high five?
Well sh^&(*%$%^&!
When I saw the picture of the dog pile, I immediately wondered how no-one got hurt. Now we know, you would think that every coach would have been talking about the Angels celebration and broken leg!!
Its a shame that they had to celebrate so wildly, even though it was not a close game and the final was in no doubt.
Hey, Jon....how's the Q & A coming?
is this still going to be a part of the blog?
right before they got the last out, i mentioned to my wife that i hoped they saw the angels game a few weeks ago. i guess they didn't. honestly, i think this one is on the coaches, they should have said something before the team took the field for the 9th.
No biggie. Rahmatulla can now go ATVing with Sheller.
Seriously, I thought the same thing about the dog pile. Also, did anyone else hear the open mic pick up someone saying "Get the F off me, man!" He was the hero in game two with that 2-run homer, and his fielding was very good from what I saw. We'll have to adjust.
The pile up celebration was like watching a nightmare knowing the people on the bottom were going to be at risk of injury -- even a collapsed lung or broken ribs is very possible when that happens. Yes, I heard the explicative on the open mike from inside the pile. The UCLA coaches have to be kicking themselves for not laying down the law on pile-ups before the game. Ugly. I would blame the coaches and not the players and definitely not Rahmatulla -- way different than the Sheller injury.
i say tell him to walk it off and bear down!
These pile-ups are frickin stupid.
One of my good friends has a brother-in-law (Joey Getherall) who played football for Notre Dame back in the late 90's early 2000's. Joey scored the game winning touchdown on an end around (I think against Georgia Tech) and the team piled on him in the end zone, they almost killed him.
He was suffocated until he lost consciousness and had be revived, he said it was the scariest moment of his life. He remembers not being able to breath and thinking to himself he has 3 minutes for them to revive him before brain damage occurs. One of his teammates even said "Joeys dead" after they un-piled and he was out.
They need put a stop to these kinds of celebrations before someone does die.
it would have to take a fundamental change starting with the little leagues.
You would have thought they might have learned something from Kendry Morales. I guess there no Angel fans among the Bruin players.
Kiss National Championship # 107 good-bye. Piling on is the dumbest celebration ever conceived. Whatever happened to just throwing one's hat or glove in the air and yelling, "WHOOPEE!!!"???
2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate? Fullterton, Fullerton! Yay!
On the bright side, I think it's our pitching that will take us to championship 107 if it's meant to be, not the bats.
baseball players are so stoooopid.
We can do it again like 1995. Dollar came in for Edney (broken wrist) and won the National Championship.