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The Major League Baseball season hasn't even started yet (OK, it kind of has, if you really want to count the Trans-Pacific junket that the Red Sox and the Athletics were forced to endure took this week to Japan), and already I think we have a winner for the most unusual trip to the disabled list of the year. The unfortunate champion is Houston Astros second baseman Kaz Matsui, who will miss the first two weeks of the season after undergoing surgery for an, er, anal fissure.

Yeah, you read that right. And no, if you don't already know what it is, I'm not telling you. Go to Wikipedia if you're so curious.

There are no details about how Matsui sustained his injury, other than it took place on no less than St. Patrick's Day. Obviously the luck of the Irish was not with him that day. And, just as obviously, the Astros training staff may want to invest in some extra soft Charmin in the coming days.