Pablo Ozuna Breaks Leg

By Benjy Lipsman in News on May 29, 2007 2:11PM

In theater, "breaking a leg" is good luck. In baseball, not so much. No, it's definitely bad news for the White Sox that versatile utility player Pablo Ozuna will miss three months with a broken leg, which he broke during Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Ozuna fractured his right fibula and tore his deltoid ligament in his first at-bat, while running out a double. He appeared to hit first base funny as he rounded the bag on his way to second. While injured, he managed to walk off the field under his own power -- masking the seriousness of his injury at the time.

With the true extent known and Ozuna on the DL for quite a while, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen lamented the loss, ''Oh, my God, from the time I had the information [on Sunday], I spent the whole game thinking, 'Who are we going to call up? This kid, from a manager's point, he resolved a lot of problems. He was a guy with speed, he did a lot of good things for us.''

That lucky fill-in will be Andy Gonzalez, called up from AAA Charlotte. But can he play three infield positions and left field like Ozuna? Can he bat in the leadoff spot when need be? Does he have speed on the basepaths? While hitting only .244 so far this season, Ozuna holds a .291 batting average during his three seasons with the Sox. For a guy who isn't even in the starting lineup, Ozuna will be difficult to replace.

Moribund for the first six weeks of the season, the offense's bats finally seem to have waken up to coincide with last week's return of Jim Thome to the lineup. While Ozuna's clearly not the offensive threat Thome is, how will his absence impact the team's ability to score runs?

Photo by AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh