Poor guy, but this article made me laugh...



Sean Rodriguez endures the majors' most ironic wildlife injury

The Tampa Bay Rays are off to a 32-14 start this season, and it's been said a few times that the only team really capable of beating baseball's best squad are the Rays themselves.

I doubt, however, that this is what they had in mind.

In one of the most deliciously ironic incidents in sports history, Rays second baseman Sean Rodriguez(notes) was stung by an actual stingray while visiting the beach with his daughter on Tuesday morning.

Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has the full story:

Rodriguez was on the beach Monday morning behind his Redington Beach rental condo when he took his 2-year-old daughter, Sofia, a couple of feet into the water for a closer look at some dolphins.

A few steps (and a stingray shuffle or two) later, he saw something flash through the water and felt something on his right heel.

"I actually thought it was a catfish at first, that it grazed me. I didn't think much of it," Rodriguez said. "And then I got out of the water, and I was like whoooaaaa."

The encounter left Rodriguez with a cut right heel, and he said he left a shocking amount of blood on the beach in the aftermath.

Luckily, the story didn't have a Steve Irwin-type ending. With the help of teammate Jason Bartlett(notes) (who was also at the beach), he called paramedics for treatment and was later able to use padding to slip on some spikes for Tuesday night's game against Boston. He was even able to play in left field after Carl Crawford(notes) (and manager Joe Maddon) were tossed from the game in the fifth inning.

So all's well that ends well, I suppose, and rest assured that Roto Arcade's Andy Behrens writes that this will not affect Rodriguez's current marginal fantasy value.

However, if you're looking to leave a comment along the lines of "It's a good thing Rodriguez doesn't play for the Tigers!" I have some very bad news — someone has already beat you to it.