No, Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd said, Daddy didn’t tell the kids he would be unable to play with them for the rest of the season.
“My kids had nothing to do with this,’’ said Boyd, who’s out with an injury that’s an early contender for oddest Cubs injury because of how it happened.
This one happened at home.
“I was just kneeling down on the floor to play with my kids,’’ Boyd said, “and my knee popped twice, literally. As unglamorous as that sounds, that’s just kind of what happened.
“I didn’t even get the chance to play with them because my knee popped on the way down.’’
Boyd was diagnosed with a partial tear of the meniscus cartilage in his left knee. Stephen Gryzlo, the Cubs’ team physician and orthopedic surgeon, performed arthroscopic surgery in which he shaved off the torn piece. Boyd was told he’d be out for six weeks.
“Dr. Gryzlo cleaned it up,’’ Boyd said. “I’m really grateful for him, and the rehab has been going great for the last [eight days].’’
He began throwing the day after surgery, “feeling great,” and expects to return in the prescribed time.
“There was no precursor,’’ he said. “There was nothing that indicated, like, I was working through pain or anything like that. It just kind of happened.
“So would it have happened two days later on the mound? Who knows? There wasn’t anything that I was feeling leading up to it, like my knee’s been feeling fine. So maybe there was something going on in there, and that’s what happened.’’
Boyd was hurt a couple of days before he was scheduled to pitch the opener of the Texas series last Friday. Ben Brown has taken Boyd’s last two turns, the Cubs cautiously limiting him to four innings each time because he has been pitching in relief, but he has pitched splendidly each time and has yet to be scored upon in those eight innings.
Even when Boyd returns, Brown would have to be considered for a spot in the rotation if he continues to perform at such a high level. But that conversation can wait.
It already has been a challenging season physically for Boyd, 35. He was shut down for 15 days after his second start with biceps tendinitis, and on the mound, it has been a mixed bag with a 2-1 record and 6.00 ERA.
In his last start, against Arizona on May 3, Boyd was credited with the win after going six innings against the Diamondbacks, allowing two runs and four hits, walking one and striking out five.
With Cade Horton out for the season after Tommy John surgery and Justin Steele’s return not expected until well after the All-Star break, Boyd is an important piece of the Cubs’ puzzle.
“It’s been a really good first week,’’ manager Craig Counsell said of Boyd’s rehab. “I think he’s doing everything probably a little bit more effortlessly and pain-free than was expected.
‘‘He’ll see the doctor at the end of the weekend here, and we’ll see what’s next, but I think he’s going to progress at a pretty good pace.’’
Until Boyd went down, the clubhouse leader for weirdest injury was Ethan Roberts, the reliever who sliced open the middle finger on his pitching hand while attempting to field a metal grate that had become dislodged by a medicine ball Roberts was using in a hallway in Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.