Jose Bautista is taking names

Jose Bautista isn't exactly thrilled with people who basically consider him a wimp for not 'playing through the pain':

"I'm saving a lot of pictures and making myself a nice collage," the Toronto Blue Jays slugger said with a scornful smile after Wednesday night's game.

We all think we know more about other people's injuries than they do themselves. A few years back, I had a friend with a rare form of cancer that the doctors had a very hard time diagnosing. He told me that the worse part (besides the pain and all) was that people would come to him and tell him what he had, without the hindrance of a medical degree or seeing he results of tests. He said 'so many people have come up to me and told me that I have the same thing their aunt or cousin or friend had' and every time the story ended with the person dying. Just the sort of thing he needed to hear.

With sports fans, we all remember the story of the guy who played the third period of the hockey game with a broken leg or we tell the story of how we sprained our ankle but continued to play in the pickup basketball game, in fact we scored the winning basket (of course, I couldn't climb the stairs the next day and missed a day of school) If Bautista was a man he'd find a way to play.

Those who question his fortitude do so out of ignorance, he intimated.

Well, of course we do, but then we say a lot of things our of ignorance around here. It's kind of our job. We second guess the manager, the GM, the players daily. But I think we know enough about Jose Bautista to be sure that, if he could possibly play, he would. He's a pretty driven guy. I wouldn't question his commitment to the team.

Get well quick Jose. We really could use your bat.