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Jeremy Affeldt sprains knee ligament while hugging his 4-year-old son

Some call Tim Lincecum "The Freak" because of his freaky pitching mechanics.

But that still leaves room to call his teammate Jeremy Affeldt "The King of Freak Injuries."

We dub Affeldt this because of the nature of two recent injuries. The Giants learned on Tuesday that he had sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee by awkwardly catching his four-year-old son, who had excitedly jumped off a sofa to greet his father as he came home from work on Saturday. Walker Affeldt stands 4-foot-6 and weighs 60 pounds.

Affeldt said he "felt a pop" in his knee and it later began to throb after he woke in the middle of the night. An MRI confirmed the sprain and manager Bruce Bochy said it would take 7-10 days to heal (somehow I think that's too hopeful) so the Giants placed Affeldt on the disabled list.

You'll remember that it was only last September that the Giants lost Affeldt for the rest of the 2011 season after he split open his right hand separating frozen hamburger patties for a family barbecue. Not only are these injuries real, but they happened to the same person.

Good grief, Affeldt family, would ya' take it easy?

Reporter Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle said Affeldt joked about his rotten luck, or whatever it is, before expressing frustration:

"The trainers are tired of getting that call, 'Hey, I'm at home and I hurt myself,' " he said. "As an athlete, you'd rather get hurt doing your job than not doing it."

Affeldt gladly would sacrifice his kingdom for some debilitating blisters! At least this time frozen food came to Affeldt's aid, Schulman said. When the knee started to hurt, Affeldt applied a bag of frozen vegetables to the tender area.

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