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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Pena ‘crushed’ by season-ending injury

Posted Sep 7, 2009 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Sep 7, 2009 at 05:43 PM

NEW YORK—Carlos Pena was pretty emotional as he spoke to reporters in the clubhouse a while ago, his left arm in a sling and his left hand heavily bandaged.

He said no one necessarily told him his season over; it was obvious how bad the damage was when he saw the X-rays. He said the picture of his middle finger looked like a pencil that had been snapped in half.

Still, the still-sinking-in knowledge that he won’t get to finish out the year hurt Pena.

“I was crushed,” he said. “I felt like if you took my heart, threw it on the ground, stepped on it a million times – that’s how bad it felt. I was really very excited about the next 25 games. I was looking forward to them. To have that taken away, it just crushed me. That hurt more than the hit-by-pitch itself.”

Pena had been swinging the bat as well as he ever has, which only compounded his disappointment. And perhaps explains why he stayed in the game for one more swing before his season came to an end.

“I knew it was bad as soon as the ball hit me, but I had to give it one more shot,” he said. “I guess when I was taking the dry swings just to see how bad it was, I knew it was very bad. But then when it got tested to the max – and that’s when it happens, when you actually check swing, you have to stop all that weight going forward with your hands – it was just excruciating. ”