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Pain stabbed his stomach, doubling Seth Etherton over for hours at a time.

His appetite vanished, so did 10 pounds.

He couldn't pitch.

But for Etherton, that wasn't the worst part.

"It was the unknown," Etherton said. "That's the scary part."

Etherton, a right-handed starter with major league experience, is one of the Isotopes' newest pitchers. The other, Erasmo Ramirez, is a lefty reliever who saw action in Albuquerque's extra inning 7-3 loss to Nashville on Wednesday night at Isotopes Park.

Including spring training, Etherton had been in Korea for a few months, his first stint in an Asian league, when the health problems started.

"It just hit me," said Etherton, who's scheduled to make his second start for the Isotopes in Friday night's series finale with Nashville. "It was a tight, painful cramping of my stomach. They didn't know what it was. They just diagnosed it as stomach inflammation. I didn't know if it was a parasite or what. ... I was pretty concerned, being in a foreign country and them not (being able to tell) me what's going on."

In six games with the Kia Tigers, Etherton went 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA. He made his final start May 10 and then was placed on waivers -- he said he's unsure whether his release was related to his ailment.

When no other Korean league teams plucked him (they are allowed two foreign players) he returned to America.

Etherton said he wasn't thinking about baseball. Four unsolved trips to Korean emergency rooms will do that.

"My main concern was getting healthy," he said. "I told my agent, `I can't do anything until I get healthy.' "

He consulted his doctors in California.

Nothing.

Then after two weeks at his stateside home, Etherton's symptoms disappeared. His appetite returned. His protein shakes no longer made him vomit. So Etherton stepped back onto the mound.

He signed with the Florida Marlins. Etherton worked out with Single-A Jupiter for several days then made his first start in more than a month on June 19. He looked good enough Í five innings, five hits, two runs, three strikeouts Í to land in Albuquerque.

With his mysterious pain gone, Etherton can focus on baseball.

All-Stars announced:The International League unveiled its team for the July 11 Triple-A All-Star Game at Isotopes Park. Here are the starters with team name in parenthesis: 1B Joey Votto (Louisville); 2B Matt Tolbert (Rochester); SS Brian Bixler (Indianapolis); 3B Mike Hessman (Toledo); C J.R. House (Norfolk); OF Brandon Moss (Pawtucket); OF Timo Perez (Toledo); OF Ryan Raburn (Toledo); starting pitchers Bryan Bullington (Indianapolis), Jeff Neimann (Durham); relievers Chris Booker (Columbus), Cory Doyne (Norfolk). The PCL team and starters were to be announced later today.