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Andrew McCutchen rolls through the high-five line after going 3 for 4 in the Pirates' 7-2 win over the Reds. -- GETTY[/caption]
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
Roundup of a lot of randomness from a lot of time around our teams ...
• There might not be a sports story all summer that grips Pittsburgh like the situation with Andrew McCutchen's ailing left knee, not least of which why so little of it has been made public.
In that spirit, then, here are three things I've learned after 48 hours of more conversations than I can count, including a lengthy one with the man himself yesterday at PNC Park:
1. It's not a tear of any ligament.
The reporting in last week's Insider strongly suggested as much, but that's now definitive. The Pirates' only public diagnosis to date -- "left knee irritation" -- leaves much to the imagination, but it's absolutely, positively not a torn ligament. The word I've heard most often is "inflammation."
2. The condition is not degenerative.
This scratch-off-the-list also was strongly suggested here last week, and this, too, is now definitive. The Pirates have concerns about how the knee will affect him until he can give it extended rest, but that time clearly isn't now. With extended rest, they sound convinced it will be fine.
And now, the weird one ...
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