By JessicaCamerato
CSNNE.com
BOSTON -- It has been over two weeks since Marco Scutaro was placed on the disabled list with a left oblique strain. Sixteen days later, he still hasn't figured out how to bide his time.
"Its just boring, just watching the games all day and doing nothing," he said. "I walk around like crazy. I eat sunflower seeds like crazy too, stuff like that."
Scutaro isn't used to having all this down time. The shortstop had suffered injuries before, but not like this. One move during batting practice landed him in a place he had avoided his entire career -- the disabled list.
"This thing, it was just one swing in the second or third round of batting practice," he recalled. "My body was loose and everything. Its just one of those things, I dont know, it just came out of nowhere."
At 35 years old, Scutaro finds himself trying to adjust to being unable to play the sport that been part of his daily routine for as long as he can remember. After taking 3,441 Major League at bats since 2002, he will have to wait a little longer for number 3,442.
"Theres nothing I can do, just treatment and stuff like that, Scutaro said. Its not really one of those injuries were you can play through it because probably its going to bother you the whole year. So you just take it easy and dont rush it, just wait. I feel like I can play right now, but they told me if you irritate it again, youll probably lose at least two months.
Boston Red Sox
What's more frustrating than the injury itself is the fact that Scutaro feels good most of the time. He knows, though, that he isnt healthy enough to make the swinging motion that has become second-hand nature to him. Manager Terry Francona said he hoped Scutaro would be able to begin taking swings during their road trip, but he has not been cleared yet.
"When you sneeze, you feel a pinch," Scutaro explained. "When you laugh or put pressure on your core it hurts. But right now, taking ground balls and stuff like that, I dont feel it at all. Its only when I swing."
As strong as Scutaros urge is to play, he is doing his best to stay patient while the injury heals. He said his teammates have offered encouragement and reminded him that he could hurt himself even more if he rushed back too soon.
So Scutaro waits. And walks around. And eats a lot of sunflower seeds.
Yet amid the frustration and anxiousness, he manages to keep a good attitude about it all.
Its my time to be on the DL, I guess, after 16 years, he says, knowing his next at bat will come if he waits.
Jessica Camerato is on Twitter athttp:twitter.comjcameratoNBAShe can bereached at jessicacamerato@gmail.com.