No true fan of the game of baseball ever likes to see a player get injured – not one on their most hated rival’s team and most certainly not one on their favorite team – and anyone who does is neither a true fan of the game nor a good person. Oh sure, when you seen baseball players do incredibly stupid things off the field that result in an injury that hurts their team’s success on the field you might shake your head in disbelief, but to actually wish an injury, any injury – even a bonehead off-field injury on a dirt bike trail in the Rocky Mountains – is simply unchristian like.

In the 10th inning of Tuesday night’s marathon 13-inning game between the Cardinals and the Dodgers in front of 41,248 fans at Dodger Stadium, Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig and center fielder Joc Pederson collided on a play that resulted in injuries to both – apparently minor to the much larger Puig and potentially a bit more serious to Pederson. And while it’s easy to point fingers and to say that this collision was avoidable simply because the center fielder is always the so-called captain of the outfield and the other fielders must always yield to him, when two outfielders are completely focused on the approaching ball and yelling “I got it, I got it, I got it” as loudly as they can and more than likely at exactly the same time, it is both unfortunate and understandably when neither outfielder yields to the other and a collision occurs.

Incredibly, somehow Puig managed to make the catch and even more incredibly was able to hang on to the ball when 460 pounds of humanity collided while running at full speed. And while some described the collision as similar to a defensive back taking out a tight end crossing the middle, the image of two train locomotives colliding might be a better description.

After the eventual and exciting Dodgers 2-1 win on a double down the right field line by Dodgers third baseman Logan Forsythe to score Kiké Hernandez from first base, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described Pederson’s injuries as relatively minor and akin to a traffic accident.

“It’s almost like he got into a car accident. He’s got cuts on the forehead and the arm. He took an elbow to the jaw, hit his head against the wall. There is limited range of motion when he turns to his right,” Roberts said of Pederson’s injuries. “We know there is going to be some soreness, but for right now, no DL.”

As for Puig, his injuries seem – at least initially – to be less serious than Joc’s.

“Hopefully tomorrow there is no pain and I can go out there and try to win again,” Puig told reporters after the game.

When asked if he’d spoken with Pederson about the collision, Puig got a chuckle from reporters.

“He feels great, but he can’t look at me from the side,” Puig kidded.

But for several excruciating (no pun intended) minutes, Roberts thought that he had lost two of his three everyday outfielders in one fell swoop.

“Initially, I thought we lost both guys,” Roberts said. “Once [Puig] said he could come back in and play, and I got verification from the training staff, I didn’t want to ask too many more questions.”

After going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and a walk in his first game back after spending 30 days on the DL, Dodgers third baseman Logan Forsythe’s exciting 13th-inning walk-off double down the right field line was both welcomed and fitting. And yes, that’s former Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton on the mound for the Cardinals. Go figure. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The point to all of this is that even though early indications are that neither Puig nor Pederson will be lost to the 10-day disabled list, perhaps putting the struggling Pederson there might not be a bad idea; not necessarily because of his car-accident-like injuries, but because of his Mendoza line struggles at the plate right now. Perhaps a little down time and a few minor league rehab games would do the extremely popular 25-year-old Palo Alto, California native a world of good.

Pederson has appeared in 35 of the Dodgers 46 games thus far this season and is 21-for-105 at the plate. That is exactly a .200 batting average – aka the Mendoza Line. And even though he has driven in a respectable 11 RBIs thus far, the normally powerful left-handed-hitting Pederson has slugged only two home runs thus far, as compared to the eight he hit last season in the Dodgers first 46 games. But in addition to his substandard batting average, Pederson also has a dismal .309 on-base percentage (due primarily to his 13 walks) and an equally disappointing .314 slugging percentage to give him a weak .623 OPS. And when you’ve got guys like 21-year-old outfielder Alex Verdugo and 27-year-old outfielder O’Koyea Dickson tearing it up at Triple-A Oklahoma City right now (especially Verdugo), perhaps a break from the bigs is just what the doctor ordered for the struggling Pederson (again, no pun intended).

But regardless of what the Dodgers brass elects to do with all of this, we most certainly wish both Puig and Pederson a speedy recovery from their injuries.