Even Clipped by Crab, Todd Wellemeyer Set to Pitch
JUPITER, Fla. — Todd Wellemeyer insisted he isn’t sure what he did to annoy a crab off the Jupiter coast yesterday. But when that little bugger was done with him, the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher had been snipped between his ring and pinky finger on his pitching hand and was bleeding a good bit, he said.
Nothing a little Band-Aid won’t cover, and no crab claw is going to keep him from throwing his live batting practice session this morning. But it makes for a good story.
“I’m telling anybody who asks how I’m doing today all about this,” reliever Josh Kinney told Wellemeyer as the two sat at their lockers this morning. “I admire any animal that has a case of the (temper) and goes after someone 150 times its size.”
Prime suspect in the sneak-attack snipping is still at large.
Wellemeyer, butterfly Band-Aid in place right over those “changeup muscles”, and Kinney are two of the seven pitchers scheduled to throw live batting practice this morning at Roger Dean Stadium. For the first time so far this spring, Live BP, however, isn’t the highlight of the day. The Cardinals took to the main field this morning for stretching and infield. For the major-league infielders, including Joe Mather and Skip Schumaker, their day will conclude back on the main field with more infield work.
For the others, a “coaches game” awaits. The catchers (excluding Yadier Molina and Jason LaRue) will face the prospect players in a coach-pitch game on Field 1. The starting infield for Team Prospect will be: 1B Allen Craig, 2B Joe Thurston, 3B Brett Wallace and SS Tyler Greene.
Tomorrow the major leaguers will have the same kind of scrimmage.
Some other dings, nicks and ouchies from Monday at Camp Cardinals: 3B David Freese continues to experience soreness in his left Achilles tendon and INF Brendan Ryan is have difficulty with his wrist. Both could be held out of game action Wednesday because of the injuries. SS Khalil Greene has some stiffness in his shoulder, but he’s OK to play after taking a lighter day today, manager Tony La Russa said.
Wellemeyer, meanwhile, is plotting revenge.
He said he might grab a pair of scissors, head back to the beach and clip the crab where the crab snipped him.
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(13 votes, average: 4.69 out of 5)
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
This is absolutely hilarious!
I heard he thought he had a case of the crabs, but it turned out to be only 23.
A suspect was witnessed fleeing the scene…A dangerous villain known as The Zookeeper, who commits crimes aided by a pack of highly-trained animals.
His crew includes a badger with a troubled past and nothing left to lose, an elephant who never forgets — to kill! And a seldom-used crab named Lucky, a.k.a. Citizen Snips.
Sounds like a potential nickname (Claude). And seriously, those thing hurt like the dickens, even the little sand crabs. I suggest that Todd/Claude just stay away from the little buggers.
I figure the little sucker is a Cubs fan
Ahhh… a Futurama reference to add to a baseball tidbit could life get any better???
A deliberate act of sabotage by a Cubs fan, indeed! Note to Cardinals players: DO NOT ENTER THE WATER! Who knows what these insurgent Cubs fans have laced the water with. BEWARE!
The Cards sure can come up with weird injuries. Remember the tarp monster that ate up Vince Coleman? Hopefully this is nothing. But how many times have you seen a pitcher leave a game because of nothing more than a hang nail or something?
On Freese’s achilles tendon. That injury never goes away. I’ve had it for more than 4 years, and seen half a dozen doctors. He just has to learn to live with it.
Hahaha Nice Futurama reference, Brian.
Todd Wellemeyer seems like a cool guy. All throughout last season there seemed to be a bunch of funny/weird stories about him (the Kentucky Colonel thing, etc.)
At least he didn’t cut his finger buttering a roll and wind up on the DL, ala Hubie Brooks.