TORONTO -- Even as the Tigers get off to their best start since 1986, the adversity that marked the last two years isn't far behind. On Tuesday, it hit their All-Star.
Dmitri Young fractured his right fibula trying to avoid a first-inning double play. He's expected to miss four
to six weeks.
Young tried to put the best face on the situation, vowing he'll be a cheerleader from the dugout. But the absence presents the Tigers with a bigger challenge than any memories from last season.
"The season doesn't end," manager Alan Trammell said. "We'll have to figure out a way. You don't replace a guy like that, to be honest with you, but we'll try to ride this [roll] as long as we can."
Young reached base on a one-out walk before Rondell White hit a quick ground ball to second baseman Orlando Hudson. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Young awkwardly tried to stop between first and second base and duck under a possible tag from a charging Hudson. Replays showed Young's right ankle turn as he tried to plant his foot.
Dmitri Young / DH
Born: 10/11/73
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 245 lbs
Bats: S / Throws: R
Young saw the replay for the first time after the game along with reporters and cringed. "I was trying to stop and get down," he said. "There's no give in the turf and I got caught."
SkyDome is the last American League park to have the traditional Artificial Turf now that Minnesota's Metrodome has converted over to FieldTurf.
Young remained on the ground for a couple of minutes as players and trainers gathered around him. He limped off the field with help from trainer Steve Carter and a teammate.
Young was originally said to have a sprained right ankle before X-rays revealed the fracture. Since it's a clean break, the damage was minimized.
"It's a minimum of four weeks," Young said, "and that's the target date. There's not much ligament damage, so I can still get in tip-top shape and be ready when I get back."
"It's a minimum of four weeks and that's the target date. There's not much ligament damage, so I can still get in tip-top shape and be ready when I get back."
-- Dmitri Young
It's the kind of adversity that would've seemed more fitting last year when the Tigers suffered injuries to Bobby Higginson, Eric Munson and Dean Palmer. Young missed time with a pair of sprained ankles and moved from left field to designated hitter to limit the stress on his sore Achilles tendons.
A year earlier, Young's loss was a major factor in the Tigers' 55-106 season. He was limited to 54 games with a nagging hernia that required season-ending surgery in July.
Both the 2002 and '03 teams, however, had very little support around Young. Now, new Tigers Ivan Rodriguez, Fernando Vina, Rondell White and Carlos Guillen have gone a combined 14-for-33 to start the season.
For all the additions to the Tigers' lineup, Young remained at the heart of the order. He fell two hits shy of his fifth .300 season in the last six years in 2003, but his 29 home runs were a career high. He was Detroit's lone representative in last summer's All-Star Game at U.S. Cellular Field.
"It's tough. You hate to lose a guy like Dmitri," Vina said. "It stinks because we need him in the scheme of things. It's just a tough, freaky accident."
Trammell wasn't yet sure how he'd fill the void after Wednesday, when Rondell White will DH to rest his knees off the artificial surface in left field. Greg Norton hit for Young Tuesday and went 0-for-3, but the Tigers scored five more runs after Young left.
The Tigers have an everyday player from last season on the bench in Craig Monroe, whose 23 home runs ranked second among AL rookies behind Texas' Mark Teixeira.
"I'm sure this is a way for Craig Monroe to get in on a regular basis," Trammell said.
The last thing Young wants the team to do is wilt in his absence. He returned from a local hospital in time for the ninth inning and hoped to be on the field when the Tigers finished off the victory. But given the removable cast from his lower leg to his foot, it wasn't a quick walk.
He still wanted to focus more on the victory than his injury. "This is what we need. We need wins," he said. "Any means necessary. For the next 4-6 weeks I'm not going to be able to do it on the field, but I'm going to be the loudest son of a biscuit out there."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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Dmitri Young / DH
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