FanHouse Mark Fidrych

As wonderfully dramatic as Zack Greinke has been for the Kansas City Royals as baseball's latest Pitcher Out Of Nowhere, it's not as if he is Wayne Simpson or somebody.

Come to think of it, Greinke isn't Fernando Valenzuela, either.

Mark Fidrych? Nah.

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

It's been a while since a week of baseball was this sad -- we saw the tragic passings of Nick Adenhart, Harry Kalas and Mark Fidrych. And without waxing too sentimentally, it's the loss of these men that remind us exactly just how little sports matter in the grand scheme of things. RIP, gentlemen. Power rankings (that feel just a tad inconsequential, to be honest) after the jump.

In 1976, Mark Fidrych pitched his rookie season in the major leagues. He threw 250.1 innings. He led the league in ERA at 2.34. He only struck out 97 batters, but he threw 24 complete games.

He was nicknamed "The Bird." He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with Sesame Street's Big Bird. He would crouch down, as shown above, and perform the groundskeepers' job by covering over his own cleat marks. He held conversations with the baseball he held in his hand. He pitched his last game before I was born. He died yesterday.

This morning's Dugout is after the jump.

BOSTON (AP) -- Mark Fidrych, an eccentric All-Star pitcher nicknamed "The Bird" whose career was shortened by injuries, was found dead Monday in an apparent accident at his farm. He was 54.

Worcester County district attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said a family friend found Fidrych about 2:30 p.m. Monday beneath a dump truck at his Northborough, Mass., farm. He appeared to be working on the truck, Early said.

The curly-haired right-hander was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1976 when he went 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games. He spent all five of his major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers, compiling a 29-19 record and a 3.10 ERA.

At first glance, Matt Garza of the Rays leaving Tuesday night's start with nerve issues in his right arm seemed like little more than the latest reminder that few things are as tenuous as the arm of a young pitcher. From Mark Fidrych to Francisco Liriano with many stops in the middle, it's a story we know all too well. After the game, though, Garza said something interesting about when the injury first surfaced.

Garza said it surfaced late last season, with him typically "pitching through it. This time it was just real bad. I knew something was up."

Late last season Garza pitched for the Twins before being dealt to the Rays for Delmon Young this winter. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire denied knowing anything at all about the problem.

"If he said he was hurt, I'm not going to call him a liar or anything like that. But he should have let us know that he might have had an injury. Normally, it's good when the team you are pitching for knows that. But I doubt that he had any injuries here."

The Twins and Garza had a somewhat stormy relationship, the remnants of which you can sense from Gardenhire's denial of any wrongdoing.