No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Life just isn't fair sometimes.

Probably no one knows that right now better than Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joel Zumaya. While playing the role of the good son, Zumaya tried to save some belongings from the attic of his parents' home in California as the wildfire closed in.

All of a sudden, a heavy box falls on his pitching shoulder, he has major surgery, and now it looks like he'll miss half of next season because of it. And he was on track to be a closer (i.e., close out the games) . . .

There are plenty of times growing up when my parents asked me to do something and I wished something would fall on my arm so I didn't have to be bothered. Now that I'm older, I see this may have been a little shortsighted.

Zumaya already missed three months of last season after somehow rupturing a tendon in his middle finger while warming up in the bullpen.

Strange injuries make you think that God might be trying to tell you something. Hopefully he'll learn whatever it is while he's healing up. His rookie year was 2006, when he helped the Tigers make their run to the World Series, so hopefully this won't be a career-altering or -ending injury. No one will really know the deal until he can throw again, which means not until next March at the earliest.

In the meantime, keep an eye on this guy since he seems a little accident-prone. Maybe Michael Jackson still has that tank he can borrow: