Berkman weighs future while awaiting MRI

A date with Fat Elvis.

Berkman said immediately after Saturday’s game that he did feel a sensation similar to what he experienced when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in November 2005. Sunday, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility and its implications.

“If I’ve re-torn my ACL or something like that, I’d certainly get it fixed but you don’t know how psychologically you’re going to come back from something like that,” Berkman said. “I’m not talking from the standpoint of being scared of hurting it again. I’m talking about doing everything it takes to come back and play again at an elite level. I think that’s a legitimate question I’m going to have to answer if, in fact, it turns out to be something more serious than we hope that it is.

“I’ll be glad to get some more definitive answers tomorrow. Then you map out your strategies and go from there.”

...“You think about it when you have a potentially major surgery at this stage of your career. But, again, right now we don’t know what it is. But it gives you pause,” he said. “I don’t think it’s one of those deals where you sit out a week and see where your are. I think it’s much more serious than that.

Always good for a parting shot, Berkman made sure Sunday’s left room for a sliver of optimism. “I’ve been through the ringer before,” he said. “I’m hopeful.”