After dealing with right ankle trouble over the last two seasons, Tommy Edman is scheduled to undergo surgery next week in effort to find a solution for the nagging injury. Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes shared news of Edman's impending surgery during the general managers meetings in Las Vegas. It was an outcome Edman himself left open the possibility for when asked about his ankle during the World Series.
But both stepped up when they were needed most Thursday, with Edman singling to start the game-winning rally and Pages' soft comebacker to the mound starting the strange play that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. The victory sends the team on to next week's NL Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers.
"I really don't feel anything when I'm hitting right now," Edman said. "In terms of it affecting me by being painful, it's not painful at all when I hit. So I don't know if I got into bad habits when I was trying to come back and it still did hurt, but right now I don't feel it at all."
Edman had been out since Aug. 4 due to a sprained right ankle, which has given him reoccurring troubles dating back to last season. Edman first sprained it last year while on a rehab assignment for the right wrist surgery he had in 2023. The utility man again injured his ankle earlier this year while sliding into second base and landed on the IL on May 3 due to right ankle inflammation.
"It's a position I'm comfortable with," Edman said Friday, after taking grounders at third at the start of his pregame work. "The hops [there] are weird, so you gotta play a little bit more one-handed ... But it's still the infield. You still gotta work on the footwork, just like you would at second and short. Catching the ball, getting behind your throws. It's a lot of the same concepts."
"The basket's kind of annoying. If the basket isn't there, it's not a homer," said Edman, giving chase from center field. "Just kind of a weird quirk of the ballpark. I thought I had a fairly good bead on it. Unfortunately it barely made it out."
