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The Orioles suffered their second loss of the day on Friday evening when news broke that third baseman Manny Machado will have surgery on his injured knee next week and is expected to be out for the remainder of the season. The news was first reported by Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports.
The surgery, according to Brown, will be performed by Los Angeles-based orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who is the same doctor who performed surgery on Machado's left knee last year. This injury is in the right knee.
Machado suffered the injury on August 11 as he twisted his knee in the course of taking a swing at the plate. He crumpled immediately to the ground and was removed from the game. The injury was diagnosed as a sprained ligament. It's probably not as serious as what he suffered towards the end of last season, but surgery is surgery, and it's still a troubling third knee injury in only four years.
There's also this:
Upside on Machado surgery: Small abnormality found in left knee also exists in right. That will be fixed during surgery.
— Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) August 22, 2014
Well, that sounds promising. On the other hand, at least it will be fixed. I guess? This isn't exactly like getting your wisdom teeth removed.
Initial optimism that Machado would be able to avoid the disabled list was unfounded. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 13, with Cord Phelps replacing him on the roster. Since then, news has been ominous when it has appeared at all. Over the last several MASN game broadcasts, Gary Thorne has expressed that the silence over Machado's knee is probably not a good thing.
Sure enough, we now know that there will be no Machado coming to save this Orioles team this year. Wherever they go, it will have to be without him helping the team on the field.
Local beat reporters say that while the Orioles have not confirmed the season-ending surgery, Duquette will address the media at 11:30 tomorrow about the report.