[khou] Astros looking for Ensberg to rebound after last year's poor season

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Every day after mid-June, Morgan Ensberg woke up hoping the pain in his right shoulder had gone away.

But it was always there, preventing him from raising his arm above his head and throbbing every time the Houston Astros third baseman swung a bat or threw a ball.

Ensberg never told the team how badly he was hurting. He admits now that the injury caused the least productive of his four full years in the major leagues.

"It was a very difficult season," Ensberg said. "It affected everything. The arm hurt throwing, the arm hurt swinging. It was something I was unable to overcome."

Ensberg tore a tendon diving for a foul ball on June 9. He missed five games before doctors gave him the go-ahead to return.

"They said that even by continuing to throw or hit, I wasn't going to continue to tear the tendon in any way," he said. "When I hear that, I hear that I'm fine."

But Ensberg was never the same and went on the disabled list in July. He came back in August and finished the season with a career-low .235 average and only 58 RBIs.

"The thing I think I did a poor job of was recognizing the amount of pain and how much it was affecting my performance on the field," he said. "With hindsight, you look back and realize you were hurting the team. You also hurt yourself."

Ensberg spent the offseason resting the shoulder and it finally started feeling normal again in January.

An All-Star in 2005, Ensberg regrets not being more forthcoming with the team about how limited he was last year.

"After the fact, it looks very clear," he said. "But when you're out there and you're doing it, you're trying to survive and play the best you can. You don't have the luxury of stepping back and looking at it."

Manager Phil Garner said he asked Ensberg repeatedly how he was feeling and Ensberg always said he was OK. But Garner understands how difficult it can be for a player to admit he's too injured to play.

"We talk out of both sides of our mouths, meaning managers and baseball executives," Garner said. "We want guys to be tough, but then when we're tough, we say, 'Oh, gee whiz, we don't want you to be tough when it perhaps hurts the team or the production.'

"How is a player supposed to know?" Garner said. "I don't fault him for that, so much."

Garner noticed as the 2006 season wore on, Ensberg swung less. He led the team with 101 walks, but that's not what Garner needs from a player who hit .283 with 36 homers and 101 RBIs in 2005.

"Morgan's got to swing the bat," Garner said. "For whatever reason that he wasn't swinging the bat, whether it was injury or that he got into too selective a mode, it was not good for him in terms of his power production."

It wasn't good for the team, either. The Astros had the NL's worst batting average in 2006 and were shut out 13 times.

Ensberg kept playing -- and struggling -- batting .209 in August with only one home run. He said it wasn't ego, but his upbringing, that kept him from admitting he was playing in pain.

"My intentions were all pure," he said. "I come from a Norwegian background. You don't complain. You work. And that's it. You suck it up and you do it, because that's what you do."

Astros hitting coach Sean Berry said the injury altered Ensberg's swing plane to the point where he stopped making clean contact.

"Without full strength in that right shoulder, it was hard for him to keep the barrel of the bat high enough and he was coming underneath it," Berry said. "He was just missing the ball, very slightly."

Ensberg arrived at spring training with a healthy shoulder and a shaggy beard, but he said there's no superstition attached to the facial hair. He wishes he could regain his hitting stroke simply by changing his physical appearance.

"I'm not superstitious whatsoever. I don't believe in luck at all," he said. "I am very routine oriented. But I do not believe that if I put my uniform on in a certain way, that that is going to somehow translate into success on the field. If it was that easy, I'd do it."

Notes C Hector Gimenez is to have surgery Monday in Houston to repair a torn lambrum in his right shoulder. Gimenez was competing against Humberto Quintero and Brad Ausmus to be the Astros backup catcher behind Brad Ausmus. Garner said the 24-year-old Gimenez will likely sit out the season. ... RHP Woody Williams will start the Astros' spring training opener against Cleveland on Thursday in Winter Haven. RHP Roy Oswalt will start Friday's game against Detroit.

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Hey Mo: can it with the "Now I realize..." crap. This ain't your first dance. You've pulled this "I didn't think it was that bad" crap before. Here's a hint from somone who wishes he had 1/10 of your talent: if you can't lift your hand above your shoulder, get your ass to the doctor.

And, thanks to Phil for pointing out what many of us said about Mo "suck it up" Ensberg all year last year: you need your RBI guys to put the bat on the ball, not sit there with the bat on the shoulder.

More of that crap from Mo this year, and he should either bat 2nd or sit his ass on the bench while Loretta plays third.

 

I like him and he irritates me all at the same time. Here's to another "breakout" year for Mo.

And, here's to Garner not listening to him at all if he looks hurt. Dude shouldn't have anyone's trust in that department by now.

 

And, he gave the same rhetoric after that slump: "well, now I know better... I was only hurting the team..." Poppycock. This guy doesn't know when he's hurt or he doesn't feel secure enough in his job to admit it.

Enjoy the monster season this year if it comes, then trade his ass.