SAN FRANCISCO – As Braves players finished eating from the postgame spread and started dressing for the bus to the airport and flight to Anaheim, second baseman Brandon Phillips limped from the training room to his locker in shorts, his right knee wrapped from about six inches above to six inches below the joint.
Right fielder Nick Markakis saw him and asked Phillips, “Kneecap?”
Yep. Phillips left Sunday’s game against the Giants after four innings when his knee began to stiffen after he’d fouled a ball off of it earlier in the game. He was diagnosed with a contusion and manager Brian Snitker said he’d be evaluated again before Monday night’s series opener at Anaheim to determine if he can play.
But judging from the limp and swelling, safe to say Phillips might miss at least one game.
“The (bleep) hurt,” Phillips said, smiling but making it clear that, even with his known high pain threshold, this one stung. “It should be all right. Just hit it on top of the kneecap, but I’ll be all right.”
It’s been a spring and early season of aches for Phillips, 35, who was was hit more times by more baseballs – pitches, pick-off throws, foul tips – during spring training than he could ever remember. He played through those bruises and avoided a disabled-list stint for a strained groin in April, and he’s hit an impressive .301 with three homers, seven stolen bases and a .351 OBP.
Phillips might have put up an argument about coming out of Sunday’s game if the Braves didn’t trail 7-0 after three innings. But he understand the reasoning and agreed it was prudent.
“It just started stiffening up,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Just wanted to get him out of there to get some treatment on it, not take any chances.”
Asked about Phillips’ availability for Monday’s game, Snitker said, “I think it’s one of them where we’ll just see when we get there. Probably not the best thing to put a guy in the air in an airplane after something like that, but we’ll just see how he feels tomorrow.”
Phillips said, “It just started to stiffen up. Since the score was what it was, (they said) let’s just be smart and try to get you ready for tomorrow.”
He didn’t know if he’d be ready to play as soon as Monday.
“I hope so,” Phillips said, then looked at the heavily wrapped knee. “Not with this big-ass thing on, though.”
