COVID-19: Dodgers’ Justin Turner in World Series

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 72,787

COVID-19: Dodgers’ Justin Turner in World Series Oct 24, 2020 5:42:48 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Oct 24, 2020 5:42:48 GMT

Justin Turner celebrates his hits with a simple gesture: he raises both wrists, droops his hands downward, and wags his fingers back and forth. Teammate Chris Taylor inspired it after a four-hit game in 2017. Turner picked it up. Now it’s become a ritual.

The ritual is getting a lot of camera time in 2020. Turner has hits in 13 of his last 15 games dating to Game 1 of the National League Division Series. He’s reached base one way or another in each of his last 11. Turner’s steady bat was thumping along like a low drumbeat until a very loud Game 3 of the World Series on Friday.

Turner’s first-inning home run against Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Charlie Morton gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish. It was the 11th postseason home run of Turner’s career, which tied Duke Snider on the franchise’s career leaderboard.

With two outs in the third inning, Turner hit a double to left field to extend a rally. The 18th postseason double of Turner’s career was also a franchise record. Among third basemen, only Hall of Famer Chipper Jones has as many.

Turner was already the Dodgers’ career leader in postseason games, hits, RBIs and total bases.

“It means I’ve had the opportunity to play on a lot of really good baseball teams deep in October,” Turner said. “Obviously it’s something I don’t think I ever think about. It’s something I can talk about when I’m done playing.”

One month shy of his 36th birthday, that time appears to be in the distant future. Turner also made a nifty play in the field when he forehand gloved a Mike Zunino ground ball on a short hop to start a double play in the third inning. It was one of many plays this month that have belied the age on Turner’s birth certificate.

Since Game 1 of the NLDS, he’s reached base at a healthy .379 clip. Dissatisfied, he continued to make adjustments at the plate.

“Tonight was really the first time all postseason I felt like I was able to put together five good at-bats,” he said. “I landed on something that should be sustainable and it felt really good.”

Last Edit: Oct 28, 2020 4:59:38 GMT by Admin

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 72,787

COVID-19: Dodgers’ Justin Turner in World Series Oct 25, 2020 4:23:20 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2020 4:23:20 GMT

In the first inning on Friday in Game 3 of the World Series, Justin Turner clobbered a Charlie Morton curveball, sending it 397 feet into the seats in left field at Globe Life Field. It gave the Dodgers a 1–0 lead and was the 11th home run of Turner’s postseason career, passing Steve Garvey and tying Duke Snider for the most all time in franchise history.

Turner has hit postseason home runs against three Cy Young Award winners — Max Scherzer (twice), Jake Arrieta and Dallas Keuchel. He has a postseason walk-off-homer (Game 2 of the 2017 National League Championship Series). In Game 2 of the 2018 NLCS, he hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning off reliever Jeremy Jeffress, who had a 1.29 ERA that season. His other home run this postseason was off Max Fried in the first inning of NLCS Game 6, five days after Fried allowed one run over six innings.

Turner’s homer on Friday came against a pitcher who had allowed one earned run in 15 2/3 innings this postseason coming into the game. Before the Turner homer, Morton had allowed one home run to the last 188 batters he faced in the postseason.

After passing Garvey and tying Snider, Turner said the sort of historic company he keeps is a result of being in other good company.

Last Edit: Oct 25, 2020 4:23:53 GMT by Admin

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 72,787

COVID-19: Dodgers’ Justin Turner in World Series Oct 28, 2020 4:58:27 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Oct 28, 2020 4:58:27 GMT

Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was lifted from Game 6 of the World Series after being informed he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the diagnosis that Fox first reported.

“It’s a bittersweet night for us. We’re glad to be done. I do think it’s a great accomplishment for our players to get the season completed,” Manfred said after presenting Corey Seager with the World Series MVP award. “But obviously we’re concerned when any of our players test positive. We learned during the game that Justin was a positive. He was immediately isolated to prevent spread.”

Turner was replaced by Edwin Rios defensively in the top of the eighth inning. No reason was immediately given for the change but Turner was not seen in the dugout or on the field celebrating with the team after clinching the title.

After the game, Turner tweeted that he was feeling “great” and wasn’t experiencing any symptoms.

“Thanks to everyone reaching out! I feel great, no symptoms at all,” he wrote. “Just experienced every emotion you can possibly imagine. Can’t believe I couldn’t be out there to celebrate with my guys! So proud of this team & unbelievably happy for the City of LA #WorldSeriesChamps.”

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that MLB was notified during the second inning of Game 6 that Turner’s COVID-19 test on Monday had come back inconclusive. According to Passan, Turner’s test taken Tuesday morning then came back positive shortly after, at which time MLB notified the Dodgers that Turner needed to be lifted from the game.

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 72,787

COVID-19: Dodgers’ Justin Turner in World Series Oct 29, 2020 7:47:21 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Oct 29, 2020 7:47:21 GMT

Justin Turner violated coronavirus protocols when he celebrated on the field with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates, and he refused instructions from security to leave the field, behavior that Major League Baseball said risked the safety of others.

The commissioner's office said Wednesday that it was starting a full investigation of the 35-year-old third baseman.

The Dodgers won their first World Series championship since 1988 with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 on Tuesday at Globe Life Field.

Turner was pulled from the game following the seventh inning after MLB was notified that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He was quarantined in a doctor's office, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.

Turner later returned to the field wearing a mask to celebrate the Dodgers' title. He then took down his mask and posed for a team photo on the field.

"Immediately upon receiving notice from the laboratory of a positive test, protocols were triggered, leading to the removal of Justin Turner from last night's game," MLB said in a statement Wednesday. "Turner was placed into isolation for the safety of those around him. However, following the Dodgers' victory, it is clear that Turner chose to disregard the agreed-upon joint protocols and the instructions he was given regarding the safety and protection of others. While a desire to celebrate is understandable, Turner's decision to leave isolation and enter the field was wrong and put everyone he came in contact with at risk. When MLB Security raised the matter of being on the field with Turner, he emphatically refused to comply."

Turner is subject to discipline under an agreement between MLB and the players' association on health and safety protocol. There is nothing specified in the agreement about the range of penalties. The commissioner's office said it would consult with the players' association as part of its investigation. The union was in the process of gathering facts on the events.

Although sources told ESPN's Buster Olney that Turner could face a suspension, there was no precedent for one. Sources told Olney that MLB planned to investigate whether any Dodgers officials or personnel helped facilitate Turner's return to the field

Turner became a free agent when his $64 million, four-year contract expired following the victory.

Turner's agent, Greg Genske, did not immediately respond to a text from The Associated Press seeking comment.

On Wednesday, both teams were cleared and flew home after negative test results. Turner and his wife remained in Arlington after his wife tested negative, a source told ESPN's Jesse Rogers. In addition, the wife of an unnamed Rays player tested positive Wednesday, and she and her contacts remained in Arlington, the source said. The player tested negative and flew back with the team.

Turner hit .307 with four homers and 23 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season and .293 (17-for-58) with three homers and six RBIs in the postseason, including .320 with a pair of solo homers in the World Series.

"Having a mask on and staying socially distanced, he wanted to come out and take a picture with the trophy, which I can't state strongly enough how big of a role he's played in the success of this organization," Friedman said after Tuesday's game.

"But I think for him, just being a free agent, not knowing exactly how the future is going to play out, I don't think there was anyone that was going to stop him from going out. I think -- from at least my perspective and not watching it super closely with everything going on -- but I think he was mindful of other people, especially other people that he hadn't already been in contact with. This is something that we're going to wrap our arms around tonight and in the morning and figure out where we're going from here."

Turner was visible on the field without a mask during the celebration. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was nearby, also not wearing a mask.

"I haven't seen the pictures," Friedman said. "If there are people around them without masks, that's not good optics at all. I haven't seen them, so it's hard for me to speak to it specifically.

"But I think from our standpoint, I think the people who were around him were people that would be in the contact tracing web anyway, with just how closely a lot of us have been around each other," he said. "And so now I think the subsequent tests we're going to take are really important to figure out what we do and to make sure that any of us that are potentially positive do not spread it to other people."

Last Edit: Oct 29, 2020 7:48:34 GMT by Admin

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 72,787

COVID-19: Dodgers’ Justin Turner in World Series Oct 30, 2020 5:42:38 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Oct 30, 2020 5:42:38 GMT

Maybe Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wayward pitch to open the 2020 Major League Baseball season was the first sign that trying to play ball in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic would be a difficult balance.

The truncated season ended with Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner being pulled from Game 6 of the World Series after a coronavirus test came back positive. Less than two hours later, he broke his isolation and returned to the field to celebrate the championship with his teammates and their families. During much of that time, he wasn’t even wearing a mask.

It was an impulsive, if understandable, decision. And it broke the rules that teams agreed to this year as a condition of play.

But how much danger did his presence pose to those with whom he celebrated Tuesday night?

How risky was it for him to celebrate on the field considering he already played 7 innings?
Turner said after the game and celebration that he did not feel the least bit sick despite his positive coronavirus test.

“I feel great, no symptoms at all,” he tweeted.

But even without any outward symptoms of COVID-19, he was likely within the most contagious window of his coronavirus infection. Scientists say that people who are newly infected are prone to spread the virus for at least two days before their first signs of illness, and that their contagiousness peaks about 18 hours before the first sign of fever, ache, cough or other symptoms set in.

One report from China found that half of those infected were still shedding the virus 19 days later.

In research studies, many of the most prolific coronavirus spreaders were either asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, meaning they would go on to develop COVID-19 symptoms over the next two or three days. But even people who never developed symptoms proved quite capable of passing the virus along, — both in lab-based simulations and in real-life contact-tracing studies.

Baseball players were being tested for infections daily, and the test administered under MLB guidelines on Monday detected a viral load high enough to trip it. And another test Tuesday confirmed it. So regardless whether Turner goes on to develop symptoms, we know he was in this early, and highly contagious, stage of infection when he celebrated on the field.

How likely is it that he infected anyone?
At least moderately likely.

Anyone lingering within a couple feet of Turner during this period would have been at risk of drawing in some virus expelled in his breath. That’s possible even during the period when he was masked, but the dose of viral particles that could be sucked in from an unmasked Turner would likely be higher — and more likely to cause illness.

And masked or not, his ability to infect others would be enhanced if he was whooping, hollering or just breathing hard from exertion or excitement.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recently updated its guidance to note that spending 15 minutes in close proximity to an infected person, either all at once or over the period of a day, puts someone at high risk of infection. The CDC dictates that such an exposure should be followed by 14 days of self-isolation and a twice-daily check of symptoms.

That’s already likely to be the prescribed behavior for all of Turner’s teammates, who in the first seven innings of the title-clinching game almost certainly logged a total of 15 minutes of proximity to Turner in the dugout.