For couch potatoes and weekend warriors, it would’ve been a tough play. For a three-time Gold Glove Award winner brought in to man the difficult center field at Fenway Park and give eventual replacement Jacoby Ellsbury time to grow, it was a walk in the park.
Somehow, the rock-solid outfielder with the golden smile managed to muff the catch. It allowed one run to score and opened up a four-run frame that helped the Rays defeat the Red Sox 6-5. Afterward, that golden smile was nowhere to be seen.
Sure, Cameron, like any other ballplayer, had made mistakes before. But something was different this time. Cameron was seemingly despondent over the error. There was one particular reason for his somber mood — Cameron knew he was hurt, and the awkwardness with which he approached the liner was one of the first on-field indications.
After a visit to the hospital to rule out the possibility of a kidney stone, Cameron soon acknowledged that he was wrestling with an abdominal tear that would land him on the disabled list. He was never the same thereafter.
While Cameron would return and have a few nice moments through June and July, he eventually had to shut it down. He would have surgery in August, miss the final two months of the season and transition this offseason into a more limited role for 2011, the last of a two-year tenure with the Red Sox that may now have reached a premature end.
Cameron, batting just .149 in 33 games this year while struggling with his part-time duties, was designated for assignment prior to Thursday’s game in Philadelphia. The club will look to work out a trade in the coming days. There remains a remote chance that Cameron will eventually accept a minor league assignment.
Remote may be an understatement. Cameron’s career with Boston appears to be over, and the disappointment on both sides can be traced back to that injury. It never allowed Cameron, now 38, to get going. Essentially, his age, or at least one possible effect of it, caught up with him at the worst possible time for the Red Sox.
It is next to impossible to put a quantitative measure on how much the injury sapped Cameron of his abilities. But the fact that he was unable to offer up much of anything on a consistent basis after the issue speaks to its impact on a guy who had played at least 140 games in 10 of 11 seasons before arriving in Boston.
Cameron never really got started in Boston. Now, it appears he has reached the end.
