Bozied's
Blunder
Dramatic Beavers victory diminished by injury; Portland slugger out for season
with ruptured patella tendon in left knee.
07.19.04 - Portland, OR
– Talk about the agony and the ecstasy. Or in Tagg Bozied's case, it
was the ecstasy and then the agony.
The Portland Beavers
slugger suffered a season-ending injury just moments after hitting a game-winning
grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Portland Beavers to a dramatic
8-5 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers.
Bozied suffered a ruptured
patella tendon to his left knee during a subsequent celebration at home plate
and was immediately taken by ambulance to Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in
northwest Portland.
The patella tendon connects
the quadriceps muscle to the tibia, providing extension at the knee joint.
According to team medical
officials, Bozied will fly to San Diego where he will undergo season-ending
surgery by Dr. Steven Copp.
Bozied, who missed 37
games with a hamstring injury earlier in the season, is expected to be out
of action for six months.
A jubilant scene at home
plate with his teammates turned silent with Bozied lying on the ground after
sustaining the injury. It is believed that it was suffered as he launched
himself into the air during the celebration.
"It was real scary.
I saw my kneecap pushed up into my quadriceps. I thought my career was over,"
Bozied told the Associated Press. "To go from hitting a walkoff home
run to being wheeled off the field in an ambulance, it's unbelievable. Guys
were hitting me on the helmet, kicking me, congratulating me and I was down
in the dogpile. Then one of them saw the look in my eyes and realized I wasn't
kidding, that it was serious."
Just prior to the injury,
Bozied was named the Pacific Coast League "Batter of the Week",
driving home 13 runs in the five games after the all-star break.
The 24-year-old was
hitting .315, with 16 homers and 58 RBI in 57 games this season.
The injury came as Portland
was in the midst of a six-game winning streak and had moved within two games
of first place in the PCL's Northern Division.
