[Cards mgr Tony “Walnuts” La Russa on Ankiel: “What? He looks good to me. You, you’re a doctor?”]
Congrats, so far, are due the oft-injured Rich Ankiel, out of the hospital today with negative tests for fractures. Ankiel hit the outfield wall headfirst in Monday’s game, and ducks the honor of being 2009’s first Cardinal Concussion. It was last June that Yadier Molina took the prize (a two-time concussee), with David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, and Mike Metheny preceding him, and at one time the whole team received neurological testing. This doesn’t mean Ankiel hasn’t got one “ he’s benched for tonight’s Phillies game. Even those of us used to watching the head busting play of Tony Walnuts and his crew found the speed with which he worked a still dizzy Yadier Molina into the line-up last year a little unsettling. So, how bad must Ankiel be feeling to ride the rails?