Rays’ Wendle had rough upbringing thanks to siblings

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Joey Wendle grew up as the youngest brother in his household, and says that’s where he got his toughness from.

In a feature on him for Ballysportsfl, he told Tricia

Whitaker of some of the pranks his older brothers pulled on him.

“My brothers used to put the dog’s shock collar around my neck, one would grab my feet and one would grab my neck and they would swing me across the underground (electrical) fence line,” Wendle said.

Wendle had four hits, including three doubles, in the Rays’ 12-5 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday. He’s hitting a solid .289 this season with three homers and 16 RBIS, but many of the Twitter reactions after the game were about his brothers’ actions.

“I remember one time my brothers threw tacks in the shower when I was taking a shower and then turned out the lights so I would step on the tacks,” Wendle said. “My mom, if she watches this, she’ll say ‘I swear I was a good parent.’ ”

Wendle, being the youngest, would try to retaliate, with varying degrees of success.

“Being smaller and weaker, I always had to try to be smarter,” Wendle said. “I remember one time I actually put sharp objects on my brother’s ceiling fan, so that when he turned it on ... so that maybe he would get something . ... You know, that was probably not my best idea.”

Trivia question

Happy birthday to former

Padres pitcher Doug Brocail, who turns 54 today. Brocail was not a bad hitter as a pitcher, with a .174 career average in 69 at-bats. How many RBIS for the Padres No. 1 draft pick in 1986?

They said it

• From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: “Albert Pujols, just released by the Angels and signed by the Dodgers, grounded into an Mlb-record 403 double plays in his career. Instead of having a street renamed in his honor, maybe he should be awarded his own 643 area code.”

• From Buccaneers QB Tom

Brady, via Twitter, on what it will be like when his past and present teams play in Foxboro on Oct. 3: “It’s like when your high school friends meet your college friends.”

• From Janice Hough of Leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “So do NBA teams pop Champagne when they clinch a spot in the play-in tournament?”

• From Ryan Brown of Birmingham’s WJOX Radio, on the hidden benefit of the Pac-12 hiring former MGM Resorts executive George Kliavkoff as its new commissioner: “Very familiar with long odds.”

Trivia answer

Brocail is a key member of Padres history as part of the 1994 deal with the Houston Astros that netted Ken Caminiti and Steve Finley, but alas, he was poor in the clutch with the bat. He had one career RBI, hitting a triple off Montreal pitcher Carlos Perez at Olympic Stadium on Sept. 16, 1995. The triple scored James Mouton, who would become a contributor on the 1998 Padres who reached the World Series. Brocail did OK on the mound that day, going 62⁄3 innings with one earned run allowed to earn the victory. He had two stints in San Diego, from 1992-94 and again in 2006-07. Brocail had a 52-48 career record with an even 4.00 ERA over 15 big-league seasons.