Impressive, I guess, but it’s not like he diagnosed himself with lupus.

Tim Stauffer, the San Diego Padres right-hander, is 2-1 this season as a spot starter.

Early Tuesday morning, he took a loss. His appendix.

Not only can he pitch, it turns out he can diagnose maladies, too. Stauffer had called up a medical website on his iPhone, entered his symptoms and came up with what could be appendicitis, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Stauffer then called Padres head trainer Todd Hutcheson from his hotel room and described his findings.

“He had himself diagnosed,” said Hutcheson to the newspaper. “He said, ‘I think I have appendicitis.’ ”

Later that morning, Stauffer had his appendix removed laparoscopically without complications and was placed on the disabled list.

I hope Stauffer doesn’t get cocky and start trusting the Internet for diagnosing any health problems he might have.  I mean, appendicitis isn’t too tough to diagnose (abdominal pain?  it’s a good guess), but you’re gonna run into trouble when you’re using the Internet to try and figure out why it burns when you pee.  Good job, Stauffer, but next time see a doctor.

All that said, I would rather seek medical advice from the commenters on YouTube before I went near the Mets training staff.

[ESPN.com]