ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The punishment didn't seem to fit the crime. Los Angeles Angels left fielder Justin Upton has run into plenty of walls with a lot more force than he did in a March 24 exhibition against the Los Angeles Dodgers and escaped unscathed.
This time was different. What seemed like a minor collision with the short wall in the left-field corner of Angel Stadium resulted in a turf toe injury that will sideline the slugger for the first two or three months of the season.
"Yeah, I've hit the wall harder _ I just hit it the right way those times," Upton said. "I hit the padding the wrong way. My foot was a little bit sore, but it got worse as the night went on."
Upton, who hit .257 with 30 home runs and 85 runs batted in last season, was diagnosed with turf toe, an injury usually associated with NFL linemen, and will be out from eight to 12 weeks. He'll remain in a walking boot for at least a month and won't resume baseball activities until the toe is healed.
"Yeah, I was definitely surprised," Upton said of the diagnosis. "I've never dealt with this before, so I don't know what the recovery process is like. I'm not a doctor. I just have to take the advice I get and use it."
