David Aardsma probably hurt his back reading 'The Machine'

While former terrible White Sox reliever David Aardsma has yet to fulfill his destiny and play for the Pirates, he's still a) the first player listed in any baseball almanac, and b) having a pretty good season with the Mariners.

That season took an unexpected turn on Tuesday when Aardsma and his Mariners teammates boarded a plane to Tampa Bay for a quick two-game series against the Rayz. Always known for his love of fine literature*, Aardsma spent the plane ride scrunched up with a good book, and probably a tall glass of arrrange juice.

When the Mariners got to Tropicana Field, Aardsma realized his back hurt and he couldn't pitch. This could only happen to David Aardsma.

Aardsma's back tightened up after a five-hour flight to Tampa during which he was scrunched up reading a book, an injury that kept him from playing in Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Rays.

Aardsma, who laughed about the injury in the clubhouse after the game, said he felt the tightness during pregame stretches. He thought back to the flight and the way he was positioned. "It might've been just how I was sitting with my book," he told the Mariners' official Web site. "I don't know. I got here, I was fine. Then I started noticing it during stretches and stuff and it just sort of got me."

Yes, it's funnier when these things happen to Kerry Wood or Sammy Sosa, but I think this is still pretty funny regardless.

The big question, of course, is what was Aardsma reading? My guess is Amazon's No. 1 selling baseball book, Joe Posnanski's 'The Machine'.


Full disclosure: this is my guess only because the fine people at Harper Collins, the book's publisher, just sent it to me for free! The package read "Media Mail, Tremendous Upside Potential" on it, which was as cool as it was confusing. Me-di-a? How did we get considered for this? I can only assume Stompy's 'Nazi Dome' post put us on the map.

As the cover states, 'The Machine' tells the tale of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. They had Pete Rose and Joe Morgan, so this book will obviously be fantastic. I'm hoping it includes the story of that time when Johnny Bench smashed a home run into the Wrigley Field bleachers and it hit my dad in the face and sent him to the hospital.

I haven't read a page of the book yet, because I'm currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" (which is awesome), but still, I highly recommended it!
 
Let this be a lesson to everyone: send me free stuff, and I'll advise all 13 people that read this site to buy it. Promise.

*I made that up.