The pain brought a beneficial pause. When shortstop Troy Tulowitzki returns to the lineup tonight for the first time in 52 days, his left quadriceps won’t be the only thing healed.
“I see this as a fresh start. You never want to be hurt, but it gave me time to clear my head,” Tulo- witzki said Thursday. “I have to wait and see what they decide, but I can’t wait to get back out there.”
Tulowitzki injured his leg fielding a groundball April 29 in San Francisco, leaving him to endure his first-ever extended absence from any sport. He was hitting just .152 with one home run and 11 RBIs, struggling to recapture the magic of the greatest rookie season by an NL shortstop.
“I have to be careful, maybe not dive so much for groundballs or slide if I don’t have to,” Tulowitzki explained. “That’s going to be hard, because that’s my natural instinct.”
His impact goes beyond statistics, emphasized general manager Dan O’Dowd.
“He brings an energy. A toughness. A will-to,” O’Dowd said.
