The agony of defeat

Baseball players are removed from games for many different reasons. Pitchers are taken out after they've tired to the point that their fastballs are at batting-practice speed. Pinch-runners rescue the slow afoot, especially in the later innings of close games, and others get a rest in a lopsided game.

Josh Blackstock, a left fielder for the Chillicothe Paints, had to leave in the seventh inning of Monday night's game at Consol Energy Park so that he could have his appendix removed. Blackstock began to experience severe abdominal pain during the Wild Things 13-4 victory. Blackstock was replaced by Montana Dye after he walked in the seventh.

"He was in some pain," said Chillicothe manager Mark Mason, who left for the hospital immediately after the game. "He was doubled over."

Blackstock had the appendix removed at Washington Hospital and was released Tuesday morning. He was sporting a nice scar near his belly button and took some good-natured kidding from teammates at the batting cage.

"It's the same type of thing Ben Roethlisberger had done," Blackstock said.

Blackstock is expected to miss five to seven days.