Rant #2,449: Some Guys Have All the Luck

Yes, some do, and some don't.

Right now, I do, but New York Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances does not.

Let me explain.

Yesterday, I finally found out what was ailing me a few weeks ago went I went in for various tests related to discomfort I was having in the nether regions of my body.

I got a great report, actually,

The doctor told me that my inner workings are good, meaning that my liver, kidney and other things in my body are doing pretty well, and there is no need for worry.

But what caused my bodily distress?

I had a stone, and the reason I know that I had one is that it came out of me on Monday morning.

I had no pain from this situation, none at all. I had some discomfort early on, an annoyance that came and went over the past three weeks or a month since this thing started.

Last week, there was one day that the discomfort became a complete annoyance, and I remember taking two aspirin to see if it would dull things, and it kind of did.

Then on Sunday, while my family was home just relaxing and not doing much of anything, I was going to the bathroom with an increased number of episodes. I probably went to the bathroom--No. 1--about a dozen times over a relatively short period of time, and I thought that that was kind of odd, in particular since I wasn't drinking anything very much at all.

Then on Monday morning, I went to the bathroom again, and it is difficult to describe the feeling, but let's just say that I knew something else came out of me while doing my thing.

I actually retrieved the pellet--no bigger than the size of a caraway seed--put it in a baggie, and prepared for my doctor's appointment on Tuesday.

And lo and behold, I was right. The pellet was the thing that was giving me all the discomfort over a period of several weeks.

So now, that episode is closed, but I have vowed to change my diet to less red meat, no eating in between meals, and maybe even a little exercise. If I can lose some weight, I will be better off, and I started by eating a non-meat version of beef for dinner last night, which was terrible but did fill me up.

Let's see how good I do with this; I don't have to give up everything, but I have to tone it down a bit.

Now we come to Yankees' pitcher Betances, the flame throwing reliever who has to feel that he is the unluckiest person on the face of the earth this morning.

Betances has been out the entire season with a variety of injuries, and while he is an integral part of the Yankees' relief corps, the Bronx Bombers have managed fine without him, winning their 99th game last night with an assortment of regular players and guys who have produced beyond belief this year when given a chance due to a record spate of injuries the team has experienced this season.

Anyway, Betances finally got well, and he made his debut during the team's Sunday game with the Toronto Blue Jays, the game I was watching when I was going through my bathroom escapades that I described earlier.

He came into the game and looked as sharp as ever, striking out the two batters he faced with just a few pitches.

After the second strikeout, he jumped off the mound as if he had recorded the third out of the inning, but it was only the second out.

When he realized what had happened, he had a good laugh, and the Yankees bench was in stitches, too.

But it ended up that the only person who is probably going to be in stitches over the next few months is Betances.

He bounced off the mound in such an awkward way that he woke up on Monday with pain in his left foot, and when examined, it was ruled that he has a partial tear in his Achilles tendon.

The team is going to look at his rehab conservatively, but they have not ruled out surgery for Betances. If he goes under the knife, he will be out of action for at least five to six months.

It is funny how jubilation goes to unhappiness in one fell swoop, but that is what Betances is dealing with now.

So yes, I consider myself quite lucky now, certainly as compared to Betances, who can't win for losing. He is also a free agent at the end of this season, which compounds matters even more for him, because nobody is going to give a pitcher rehabbing such an injury any more money than he is currently making, probably keeping him a Yankee for at least the next season or so.

And at 31 years old, right in his prime as an athlete, that is not good for him, although I am sure you won't see him apply for food stamps any time soon.

So there you have it. Me, I am lucky; Betances, he is not.

I got rid of a stone; Betances needs a Blarney Stone for good luck.

Let's go Larry; let's go Yankees.