HIP-HIP HOORAY: Alex Rodriguez flashes a thumbs-up after undergoing “successful” surgery to repair a torn labrum and his left hip yesterday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
The running joke in sports used to be that every athlete’s surgery was a “successful” procedure, the player’s actual condition notwithstanding. So went the statements churning out of the teams’ respective public-relations wings.
Now, in this high-tech age, we get a bona fide “status update” — a Facebook photo of Alex Rodriguez lying in his hospital bed yesterday, offering a thumbs-up and a statement: “Surgery went well!”
So pretty much the same thing as before, only more visual.
The tale behind this one is simple enough: When an operation is so serious that it will require an anticipated six months before the patient’s return to full action, and when A-Rod now has undergone surgery on both of his hips, we proceed with extreme caution in the universe of expectations.
It’s way too soon to start wondering how the third baseman/DH can help the 2013 Yankees, triply so whether the man with 647 career homers can pass Willie Mays (660), let alone Barry Bonds (762).
The Yankees professed optimism on Day One. Their statement asserted that A-Rod’s procedure to repair a torn labrum and impingement in his left hip, performed by Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, “went as planned and without complication.”
According to a source familiar with the situation, the good news was threefold: 1) Kelly successfully reshaped Rodriguez’s left femoral head, which will stop the bone from hitting the labrum (and causing further damage) when A-Rod swings the bat; 2) the doctor repaired the labrum; and 3) the cartilage damage in the area was minimal, which means micro fracture surgery won’t be necessary.
Having said all of that, the source proceeded, “Whether he comes back or not comes back is all in the rehab.” Rodriguez, his physiology changed, will have to establish new muscle memory.
He will be discharged from the hospital today, and Kelly will supervise his rehabilitation, his long road back to a major league game. Kelly told the Post’s Joel Sherman last week, in an exclusive interview: “I would say we are extremely optimistic that we can get Alex back to performing at a high level, but he has a lot of obstacles in the way to get there.”
A few of those obstacles now rest behind A-Rod, hurdles leapt. Yet many more remain.
This isn’t about the 2013 Yankees, per se. They signed Kevin Youkilis to serve as A-Rod’s fill-in, and the two men put together 2012 campaigns that can be viewed as comparable, although you would give the edge to A-Rod. If these Yankees’ fortunes depend upon the return of a healthy and productive A-Rod after the All-Star break, given that he has been in steady decline since signing his 10-year, $275-million extension in the 2007-08 offseason, then the two-time defending American League East champions are in trouble.
No, this is more about our favorite lightning rod, punching bag and headline generator, one of the very best players in the game’s history no matter what illegal performance-enhancing drugs he took to get there. Wondering when he will be back and what he’ll look like, assuming he can get back.
We always get the thumbs-up now. When we’ll see it again, well … no one can possibly know for sure at this point.