It's 2010, people, and again we must raise a question of supreme importance: When we will finally put an end to ray on Ray violence?This vital worry cropped up again on Monday morning when Rays utilityman Sean Rodriguez was enjoying some time at the beach with his family and fell victim to an attack from the animal that gave his team its nickname. Wading in the water with his two-year-old daughter, Rodriguez 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."
It wasn't a catfish, of course, but a stingray that had decided to give Rodriguez a swat on the back of the heel.
Rodriguez's teammate Jason Bartlett was at the beach as well and called the paramedics down to take care of his buddy. Outside of a lot of blood on the sand, all turned out to be fine. Rodriguez was able to step in and finish Carl Crawford's at-bat after Crawford was ejected on Tuesday night and the mighty ray got some retribution for the first 10 years of the Tampa club's existence when they sullied the good name of a proud animal.
Ultimately, Rodriguez is lucky on a couple of different fronts. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed after taking a stingray barb to the chest in 2006 so the injury obviously could have been a lot worse.
Rodriguez is also lucky that he plays for Tampa Bay. If he were a member of the Tigers or Giants, he certainly wouldn't have survived an attack from the team's mascot, and we'd be waiting for ransom demands if he called Pittsburgh home. Obviously, it's a bit more dangerous than playing for one of the hosiery-inspired clubs but there are certainly worse scenarios out there for big-leaguers.
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