Another Dark Day in Baseball

Today steroids are the continuing cover story in Major League Baseball.

Most upsetting about all this is that there are truly more heart-wrenching stories than this. Some of these stories touch more than one family.

Earlier in the week the Twins received word that Delmon Young lost his mother. Earlier this year the baseball world was shocked when Nick Adenhart, a young and promising pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, was killed by a drunk driver just hours after pitching a great game for the hometown crowd.

Today another sad story came to pass, when Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Scott Schoeneweis' wife was found dead in her home. According to the Maricopa County Sheriff's office, Schoenweis' 14-year-old daughter made the call when her mom became unresponsive.

In an article provided by MLB.com reporters Steven Gilbert and Alden Gonzalez, many of the players and coaches immediately called home to tell their families they loved them and checked on them to see if things were OK.

Starter Doug Davis was sure to be preoccupied as he took the mound against the Marlins.

"We're all shaken, including myself—warm-ups and everything like that," Davis said. "Just thinking about it. You have to think about your loved ones at the same time. The first thing you want to do is call your spouse and, in my case, fiancée, and make sure everything is OK. It's tough. Like I said, I feel for him, and I definitely will pray for him."

Its moments like this that test a team in ways the average fan can't imagine. I write this with a heavy heart knowing my love for this game and the players that play it. My deepest sympathies go to Scott and his daughter. Also the same to Delmon, brother Demitri and the entire Young and Schoenweis families.

But hopefully we can discover hope. Wherever we see a Josh Hamilton surviving a deadly addiction, a Jon Lester striking out cancer, or a Zach Greinke defeating depression and becoming such a huge success, we can take inspiration from our favorite athletes in life.

So always remember life can end with little or no warning at all. Never miss the chance to make sure everyone in your family is doing well.

Never underestimate the power of prayer.