Part of Placido Polanco wonders why he hasn't already gone had surgery. The All-Star third baseman missed his fifth straight game with a sports hernia injury on Friday.
"I know I'm going to need it, so why not get it over with? What's preventing me from having it?" Polanco wondered. "Maybe the fact that we're playing for something and you can take it for granted. You don't know when we're going to be in the playoffs again and we have a pretty good chance, and I don't want to miss it. It's fun."
In an effort to get their often injured third baseman healthy, the Phillies administered a cortisone shot on Polanco on Tuesday. He's going to attempt to take batting practice before Saturday's game, according to general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.
"We'll probably wait and see how he progresses in the next couple of days once he gets into baseball activities," Amaro said. "We think the shot will help. But, again, we won't know much until he starts doing more baseball stuff."
"We'll see how it goes," Polanco said. "The next of days I think will be important."
Polanco has been limited to just 10 games since July 1 with back and sports hernia ailments. But since he is the only career .300 hitter in the Phillies' lineup, the Phils would like to have his healthy bat back as soon as he's physically able to play.
And there's also an inherent risk anytime anyone has surgery.
"Surgery might not take just four weeks. It took much longer than that on Raul (Ibanez)," Amaro said, referring to Ibanez's surgery for a sports hernia following the 2009 season. "I don't think his issues are as drastic as Raul's or as severe. But there's no guarantee (on recovery time)."