On Triage Tuesday, Players From Strasburg to Street Fall Injured

The full moon was Sunday, but the weirdness in baseball came Tuesday.

An unimaginable rash of injuries hit teams coast-to-coast. None were immediately deemed serious, but it was hard to recall a day when so many teams had to change plans.

It began with the news that Kansas City right-hander Gil Meche would need shoulder surgery. And the revelation that Mets outfielder Jason Bay had a concussion.

Then, during batting practice in Denver, Colorado closer Huston Street was hit in the groin area with a liner and had to be taken away in an ambulance. He was later diagnosed with a "right abdominal contusion" and was listed as day-to-day.

After Jorge Posada was scratched from the Yankees' lineup with a sore left knee came the biggest name: rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg had trouble getting loose for his start for the Nationals and was scratched. (Washington shut out Atlanta 3-0 anyway.)

The July 27 curse also went after a pair of brothers. Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton came out of his game in the top of the first inning after spraining his left ankle fielding a single to center field. Younger sibling Justin Upton, playing for the Diamondbacks, left Arizona's game at Philadelphia in the fifth inning with what was called "right hip tightness."

That wasn't the last injury at Citizens Bank Park. Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino suffered a left oblique strain and left in the seventh inning.

You knew a night like this couldn't pass without touching the woeful Mariners, who lost Jose Lopez in the second inning at Chicago to a tight left hamstring.

In Kansas City, Kyle Farnsworth departed in the midst of his outing with a right hamstring cramp that at this point does not appear to be a more serious strain.

Meanwhile, out in California, the Red Sox scratched J.D. Drew (who also has a brother on the Diamondbacks) from their lineup with a tight left hamstring.

Oh yeah, Andre Ethier was held out of the Dodgers' lineup due to the flu.

So we have a battery of Strasburg and Posada, two full outfields -- two Uptons, Victorino, Ethier, Bay and J.D. Drew -- one lonely infielder in Lopez and a setup man and closer in Farnsworth and Street.