Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 12, 2008
Bad Mitochondria

Rocco Baldelli appears to be finished with baseball for the moment.

Rocco Baldelli will be sidelined indefinitely - but is not retiring - because of what he said are "some type of metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities,'' a condition that leaves him feeling extremely fatigued after just a brief workout.

"When I say "fatigued" my body is literally spent after a very short amount of time out on the field which makes it extremely frustrating and difficult, but it's kind of a reality right now,'' he said during a 13-minute session with reporters before Wednesday's game. "I feel like I've done a serious workout after a very short period of time, and it's a very odd feeling. ... I try not to be too dramatic when I explain what's going on, but it's not easy when you're out on the field for a very short period of time and you're done, and you're not really worth anything else out there. That's a tough thing to handle because you wonder why. You wonder why this is how your body feels.''

Mitochondira are one of my favorite organelles (the ribosomes are pretty cool, too). Not only are they the power plant of the cells, but they have their own DNA that one can use to trace female ancestry. The problem is, when they don't work right, you can't power your muscles. For Rocco's sake, I hope this is something doctors can correct.

However, this does give the Rays another reason to sign Barry Bonds.


Hat tip, Rays Anatomy.

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Posted by David Pinto at 01:24 PM | Illnesses | TrackBack (0)
Comments

How weird.

Posted by: ed at March 12, 2008 03:14 PM

Aren't they also the source of "The Force" as per Star Wars episode I?

Posted by: rbj at March 12, 2008 03:16 PM

They used a different name in Star Wars, Metachlorians, I believe.

But yes, I'm sure Lucas based them on Mitochondria.

Posted by: David Pinto at March 12, 2008 03:39 PM

actually, it's Midi-chlorians, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midi-chlorians

Posted by: Jc at March 12, 2008 04:19 PM
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