NEW YORK — Two days after diving into the first row of seats and putting a hole in his bottom lip that required five stitches, White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier was back in the lineup for the first game of the team’s three-game series against the Yankees in New York.
“Good to go,” Frazier said. “It looks like a big ol’ lip, that’s about it. My mom keeps calling me ‘Louie The Lip.’ My name’s not Louie but I’m ready to go. I’m in the lineup, I’m pretty excited and it’s good to be in New York.”
Frazier spent a welcome off day Thursday in Toms River, New Jersey, his hometown which is about an hour and 10 minutes from New York. He played kickball with his nephew and nieces.
“We had a good little day,” he said.
Frazier ran off the field covering his face after his mouth hit an armrest of a first-row seat at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, attempting to catch Prince Fielder’s foul ball. His teeth cut a hole through his lip, an injury that that could have been worse.
“Shoot man, I could have my jaw wired shut,” he said. “You never know. I was worried about my teeth and the next morning I woke up and have a bruise under my chin and my head I didn’t feel yet. That’s what happens. You play hard.”
Frazier said Sox pitchers told them thanks for the effort, “and I appreciate that a lot because to win a game sometimes is harder than you think,” he said.
A mouth guard or special flap wasn’t going to be necessary when the Sox played the Yankees at Yankee Stadium Friday, Frazier said.
Frazier, who won a Little League World Series with Toms River, said he has a couple of busloads of Toms River Little Leaguers coming on Sunday.
“You’ll hear them in the outfield screaming and yelling,” he said. “It’s great to see the people at home, just driving by. I went to get a bagel at home yesterday and people were like, ‘Hey man, how you doing?’ It’s a good feeling and it’s a baseball town so they root for their guys.”
