Endy down for the season (and maybe more)

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Poor Endy!
Just doing his job and his season is lost...

Chavez tore a pair of ligaments and cartilage in his knee, the Mariners said Saturday. Team physician Dr. Edward Khalfayan said the likely recovery time for Chavez following surgery will be about nine months to one year.

"He's in pretty good spirits, but obviously the news that it's a pretty tragic and devastating injury," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Seattle placed Chavez on the 60-day disabled list and added infielder Josh Wilson to the 25-man roster. Wilson was claimed on waivers by the Mariners on Friday after splitting the 2009 season between the Arizona and San Diego organizations.

Chavez was injured in the fifth inning of Friday night's 4-3 win over Arizona. Trying to chase down a pop into shallow left field, the charging Chavez collided with retreating shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. The pair banged knees, causing Chavez's right leg to hyperextend. Khalfayan believes the hyperextension tore Chavez's anterior cruciate ligament, and when Chavez flipped and landed hard on the field, his medial collateral ligament was torn.

Khalfayan, who is also a team physician for the Seattle Seahawks, likened Chavez's injury to those sustained by Seahawks receivers Deion Branch and Nate Burleson. He attended to Chavez on the field Friday night and was confident that Chavez had torn both ligaments.

It'll likely be another few weeks before Chavez can undergo surgery and the full extent of the damage is revealed. Surgery will occur once swelling goes down and rehabilitation is expected to begin immediately after surgery.

Khalfayan said with most ACL tears, he keeps patients from running for three months. With Chavez, it will likely be four months before the speedster will be given the OK to run.

There's at least one person who doesn't blame Yuni for the collision (Greg Johns)...

The ball was hit in a tough spot -- directly between two on-rushing players who were hustling to make the catch. You can't criticize Betancourt for being lazy on one hand, then rip him for making what turned out to be an incredible, hustling catch on this one.

Unfortunately, Chavez was going full out at the same time and both were eying the ball and not each other.

Yes, Chavez called for the ball. But if you watch the video here from mlb.com, you'll see Chavez didn't yell until the very last second ... far too late for Betancourt to change his momentum or direction.