{"id":2442,"date":"2024-10-26T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T08:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotnews.azontree.com\/?p=2442"},"modified":"2024-10-26T08:00:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T08:00:36","slug":"freddie-freemans-insistence-on-playing-through-injury-pays-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotnews.azontree.com\/?p=2442","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Freeman\u2019s Insistence On Playing Through Injury Pays Off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Dodgers\u2019 star first baseman has lobbied to stay in the lineup since being hobbled last month by a sprained ankle. Friday\u2019s walk-off grand slam validated his confidence.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Freeman<\/div>\n
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Freeman revels in the glow of his instantly iconic grand slam. \/ Erick Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As the ball soared toward the stands, as the\u00a0Los Angeles Dodgers\u00a0poured out of their dugout and spilled onto the field, most of the sellout crowd of 52,394 had to be thinking about Kirk Gibson. Another hobbled lefthanded slugger, defying common sense and biology, limping to the plate and ending Game 1 of a World Series with a walk-off home run to right field to bring L.A. three wins from the title.<\/p>\n

But as he danced around the bases, Freddie Freeman, the owner of the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, the scoreboard flashing DODGERS 6, YANKEES 3, was thinking about his dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been throwing me batting practice since I can remember,\u201d he says. \u201cMy swing is because of him. My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him.\u201d So after he greeted his teammates at home plate, he made his way to the stands, where he found his father in the front row. \u201cIf he didn\u2019t love the game of baseball, I wouldn\u2019t be here playing this game,\u201d Freddie says. \u201cSo that\u2019s Fred Freeman\u2019s moment right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Gibson comparison\u2014the other most dramatic walk-off in L.A. history, when Gibson, in 1988, fighting a torn tendon in his left leg and a torn ligament in his right, entered as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning and blasted a two-run shot\u2014Freeman just grins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played the whole game, though,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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If indeed the most important ability is availability, Freeman\u2019s October should put him in the Hall of Fame. He badly sprained his right ankle trying to avoid a tag at first base on Sept. 26, and he has spent the intervening month hobbling from the training table to the infield and back. Doctors suggested he take four to six weeks off. He took eight days. He has missed only three playoff games. He spends hours getting treatment every day, barely making it to the hitters\u2019 meeting. His teammates alternate between drawing inspiration from his grit and wincing every time he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game honors you,\u201d says manager Dave Roberts. \u201cWhen you do things the right way, you play the right way, you\u2019re a good teammate\u2014I just believe that the game honors you. Tonight Freddie was honored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes that insistence on playing the game the right way drives them crazy, though. On Friday, for example, the only people more annoyed than the Yankees when New York left fielder Alex Verdugo misplayed a Freeman grounder were the Dodgers. There was Freeman, legging out a triple. \u201cWe\u2019re all, like, \u2018Oh no, Verdugo, you should have cut that off!\u2019\u201d recalls Dodgers center fielder Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cStop him at first or at second!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Says Roberts, \u201cI was happy he came out of it upright.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Freeman\u2019s walk-off grand slam was the first in World Series history. \/ Erick Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez says he is actually glad the Dodgers lost twice in the National League Championship Series to the New York Mets, because a five-game series would have moved up the start of the World Series. Instead they bought themselves three extra days. \u201cThe off days were huge [for Freeman],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Freeman had not run in a week until he jogged out for introductions before Game 1, but he had begun to feel better two or three days earlier, when he and hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc noticed that he could finally generate power from the ground again. \u201cIt\u2019s how he transfers pressure on the inside part of his foot,\u201d Van Scoyoc explains. \u201cHe was avoiding that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Freeman was at his worst\u2014late in the NLCS\u2014he was barely able to swing the bat at all. Before Friday, he had not had an extra-base hit since the injury, and he hit .167 in the NLCS. Roberts acknowledged before Game 6 of that series that \u201cyou could argue\u201d that Freeman\u2019s insistence on playing was beginning to hurt the team. \u201cBut I could also argue that him doing whatever he can to be on the field and to post, I think, speaks loudly in that clubhouse,\u201d Roberts added. For his part, Freeman says that he was unaware of the criticism and does not agree with it.<\/p>\n

But he began lining the ball to left field during batting practice this week, and he knew he was back, or close to it.<\/p>\n

The Yankees were less sure. In the bottom of the 10th, after having taken a 3\u20132 lead in the top half of the frame, New York reliever Jake Cousins allowed a one-out walk and then a single to bring Shohei Ohtani to the plate. Manager Aaron Boone summoned lefthanded starter Nestor Cort\u00e9s, who had been out since Sept. 18 with a strained flexor tendon. Ohtani was 2-for-12 against Cort\u00e9s. \u201cI don’t know if you ever love a matchup against Ohtani, but I felt like Nestor could give us a shot at it,\u201d Boone says. Cort\u00e9s did retire Ohtani on a foul pop to Verdugo, but when the runners advanced to second and third base, leaving first open, Boone elected to walk the righthanded Mookie Betts and go after Freeman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all thought that Shohei was gonna end it,\u201d says Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cIt would have been a fairy tale ending to his first World Series game, but the fact that Freddie was the one that did it\u2014even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman says he understood the decision. Roberts said he watched his first baseman take it personally. \u201cI think he did, and I think he should,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re competitors, and that\u2019s the way it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFre-ddie, Fre-ddie,\u201d the fans chanted. Out in the bullpen, the Dodgers relievers got goosebumps. Freeman decided to look inside\u2014so he could avoid the cutter and the slider\u2014and wait for a fastball. He didn\u2019t have to wait long: First pitch, 93 mph, in and at his knees. He knew it was gone immediately. And as he jogged around the bases, for the first time in a month, his ankle didn\u2019t hurt at all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dodgers\u2019 star first baseman has lobbied to stay in the lineup since being hobbled last month by a sprained ankle. Friday\u2019s walk-off grand slam validated his… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nFreddie Freeman\u2019s Insistence On Playing Through Injury Pays Off - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hotnews.azontree.com\/?p=2442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freddie Freeman\u2019s Insistence On Playing Through Injury Pays Off - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Dodgers\u2019 star first baseman has lobbied to stay in the lineup since being hobbled last month by a sprained ankle. 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