Injuries forcing Johjima to retire

Kenji Johjima, the first Japanese player to catch in the major leagues, will retire at the end of this season, sources close to the matter said Friday.

The 36-year-old catcher, who has suffered all year with injury and is in the third year of a four-year contract with the Hanshin Tigers, was quoted as saying, "I'm not a player worth ?400 million a year."

A native of Nagasaki Prefecture, Johjima turned pro out of high school as the No. 1 pick of the Daiei Hawks and contributed to the team's rise from the weak link of the Pacific League to a powerhouse and was named the PL's MVP in 2003. He moved to the majors in 2006 as a free agent and played four seasons for the Seattle Mariners before returning to Japan in 2010 with the Hanshin.

Johjima has been unable to catch this season due to left knee and right elbow injuries, playing just 24 first-team games for the Tigers, primarily as a pinch hitter.

In 14 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, Johjima has played in 1,323 games with a career batting average of .296, 244 home runs and 808 RBIs. He played 462 games in the big leagues, batting .268 with 48 homers and 198 RBIs. He missed the 2006 World Baseball Classic due to a broken leg, but was a key contributor to Japan's second championship in 2009.

Johjima won six PL Best IX Awards and eight Golden Gloves, his last coming with Hanshin in 2010 before injuries began to derail his career.

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Focus shifts to condensed schedule after Rose, Shumpert suffer injuries

Tough break: Derrick Rose is attended to by team doctors during the Bulls' game against the Sixers on Saturday. AP

NEW YORK — The NBA's compressed schedule, with 66 games in four months followed by one day off before the playoffs, was tough on everyone.

Did it cause more injuries?

"Yeah, probably," Chicago's Joakim Noah said. "Probably."

What about the torn ACLs that ended the season for Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert on Saturday?

Unlikely, said a surgeon.

"There is no evidence that wear and tear, or that kind of issue, playing too much, really has any correlation with ACL injuries in any sport that we've ever studied," Dr. David Altchek from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York said Sunday.

Rose, last season's MVP, was hurt in the final minutes of Chicago's Game 1 victory over Philadelphia, and the Knicks' Shumpert went down a short while later. The blame game started soon after, with many pointing the finger at the hectic post-lockout schedule.

Boston center Jermaine O'Neal, whose season ended early after wrist surgery, wrote on his Twitter page that it was a "clear sign" of fatigued bodies from a condensed season, writing "(two) torn acl injuries to key players!"

But Altchek argues that too much playing could actually make a player less susceptible to the injuries that Rose and Shumpert sustained, because they might lack the type of explosiveness it takes to blow out a knee ligament.

"In fact, I think if you're tired, you're a lot less likely to tear your ACL because you're not going to be as explosive," said Altchek, who has operated on players such as Josh Howard, David West and Purdue's Robbie Hummel, and been a consultant for the NBA.

NBA players and owners settled on a 66-game schedule starting on Christmas when they settled the lockout during Thanksgiving weekend. Though perhaps ambitious, both sides saw it as a way to make back as much lost revenue as possible.

Spokesman Tim Frank said that with respect to the season, the league had "ongoing discussions with team doctors and athletic trainers about best practices and planning for injuries."

The revised schedule amounted to about two extra games a month for teams, from 14 to 16. Though the league said the injury rate was about the same as in a normal 82-game season, players say they felt a difference.

"This has been a compressed season, a lot more games, a lot less practice time, a lot less recovery time," Knicks guard Baron Davis said. "You can definitely look at the season and just look at the schedule and say that guys really never got the ample amount of time to rest and heal their bones because you're fighting for playoff position. It's game after game after game. So, you know, it's tough. But there's injuries, there's freak injuries in basketball that's always happening."

Both players battled injuries during the season, with Rose missing 27 games for groin, back, toe, foot and ankle problems. Bulls general manager Gar Forman said Rose's previous injuries or the schedule did not lead to the ACL tear. But players don't seem so certain.

"There's a lot of speculation. And it doesn't matter. We're in this season, we played the games, we're in the playoffs now. Hopefully no one else goes down with these type of injuries," Miami's Dwyane Wade said. "It's not anything that we want to see, for none of our players to go down with injuries. So you don't know. You don't know if it was because of the condensed season. You don't know what the case may be. The biggest thing is that them guys get healthy."

Twitter became a forum for debate about the schedule's role even before Rose and Shumpert were in their hospital rooms. Former player and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose listed some players that had gone down, putting the blame on the schedule.

For some injuries, it may have been. Just not the two from Saturday.

"There really is no evidence of that, in any athlete, that wear and tear, like gradual wearing away of the ACL, is an issue in terms of the injury," Altchek said.

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How can your Children avoid Knee Sports Injuries in India? Advice for Indian parents

Leg injuries force Tiger to pull out of TPC after nine holes

Troubles continue: Tiger Woods hits a shot from the fairway on the second hole during the first round of The Players Championship on Thursday. Woods withdrew after nine holes due to pain in his left knee. AP PHOTO

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida — Tiger Woods limped off the golf course and into a future that is murkier than ever when he withdrew with leg injuries after his worst nine holes at The Players Championship on Thursday.

"I'm having a hard time walking," he said.

Woods shot a 42 on the front nine of the TPC Sawgrass, including a triple bogey on the fourth hole when he didn't clear a water hazard 30 yards in front of him. He constantly walked some 20 yards behind his playing partners, holding his golf club for support, and limping noticeably after each hole.

After taking a bogey on the par-5 ninth, he handed his scorecard to U.S. PGA champion Martin Kaymer, then walked back to inform Matt Kuchar that he was leaving early from The Players for the second straight year.

It was his first competition since the Masters, where Woods said he hurt his left knee and Achilles while hitting from the pine straw beneath Eisenhower Tree on the 17th hole in the third round. Woods was briefly tied for the lead the next day and finished tied for fourth.

He described it as a "minor injury" when he skipped last week to give his leg time to heal, and said he was "surprised" that it acted up on him at The Players.

"The treatment's been good," he said. "It's been getting better. But it just wasn't enough."

From the opening tee shot, he looked as bad as he ever has.

"The knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up," Woods said. "Everything started getting tight, so it's just a whole chain reaction."

The first hole could not have gone any worse for Woods.

He pulled his opening tee shot into the pine trees, leaving him a stance in the pine straw. Then he came up short of the green, his ball perched at the bottom of a steep bank that forced another awkward stance.

"The pine straw didn't help because my foot slipped, my left foot slipped," Woods said. "It obviously would have probably felt better if it would have held."

The rest of his nine holes was not much better, especially at No. 4. He said his knee "grabbed me" on a tee shot that sailed well left into the mounds, and he put his approach into the water.

Then came a shocker of a shot — after taking a drop, his short pitch to a back pin hit the bulkhead and went back into the water. He had to make a 20-foot putt for triple bogey.

Even more remarkable — Woods didn't hit a single green from his five tee shots that found the fairway.

"Nobody really knows how much pain he was in," Kaymer said. "Of course, we hope that he gets well soon, that he gets out here again. It would have been nice to play another 27 with him. And he shot 6 over, but hopefully he can recover soon so he can play great golf again."

The 42 was three shots higher than his previous worst 9-hole score at the TPC Sawgrass. His worst 9-hole score on the U.S. PGA Tour was a 43 on four occasions, the most recent on the back nine at Quail Hollow last year when he missed the cut.

Woods has had four operations on his left knee.

One week after missing the cut for the first time since last June, Nick Watney opened with an 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Wells Fargo winner Lucas Glover.

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