It Was Standing Up That Sat Him Down

He crashes into walls, dives onto warning tracks and slides hard into bases, but it may have been the simplest of acts--getting up from a chair--that did the most damage to center fielder Jim Edmonds’ left knee.

Edmonds believes he strained the knee while trying to steal third against Oakland May 29, but the partially torn cartilage might have been suffered in the clubhouse afterward.

“I went in to change my shoes and I think I stood up too fast,” Edmonds said. “That’s when I heard a pop in my knee.”

Edmonds sat out the next two games and played Sunday and Tuesday.

“But I knew something wasn’t right,” he said. “You just don’t have that much pain with a bruised knee.”

An MRI revealed the tears Wednesday, but Edmonds remained in the lineup until Friday night, when Manager Terry Collins rested him.

Edmonds will probably start tonight, but his playing time will be limited.

“It’s no secret there’s only one way to fix it--surgery,” Edmonds said. “But I don’t want to shut it down. If I think I’m hurting myself or the team, I might have to, but I haven’t got that far yet.”

Edmonds said the knee doesn’t bother him when he’s running straight ahead. It’s when he makes sudden, lateral moves, such as breaking for balls in the gap and running the bases, that he feels pain.

“Walking around the house is the toughest thing because you’re changing directions so much,” Edmonds said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TONIGHT’S GAME

ANGELS’ MATT PERISHO (0-1, 10.13 ERA) vs. TWINS’ BRAD RADKE (4-5, 5.00)

Metrodome, Minneapolis, 5 p.m.

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KTZN (710).

* Update--Second baseman Luis Alicea, bothered by a tight right hamstring, sat Friday for the fifth time in seven games, and Jim Edmonds did not start for the third time in seven games. Some encouraging news for Manager Terry Collins: Reliever Mike James, out all week because of elbow tendinitis, may be available today.