Sunday, May 30, 2010

Near tragedy turns into good day for Indians

A day that started with a near tragedy ended up being a good day for the Cleveland Indians.

The best news, of course, is that David Huff appears to be okay after getting slammed in the head by a fierce line drive off the bat of Alex Rodriguez. It was a terrifying moment, with Huff motionless on the ground for what seemed like an endless amount of time while the Indians trainers worked on him, with the help of the New York Yankees training staff and emergency medical services stationed at Yankee Stadium.

ARod was distraught and appeared near tears on the field and could not speak to the media, sending out a statement expressing sheer gratitude after it became clear that Huff's injury would not be as damaging as we all feared. No matter how much baseball players want to beat each other on the field, they never want to see their adversaries get hurt in such a scary way.

After what could have been a deflating accident, the Indians, despite their concern for their teammate, mounted an improbable comeback. But they were aided by another collapse by Joba Chamberlain and the Yankees bullpen. Once again, Joe Girardi's management (or over management of his bullpen) raised a puzzling question: why bring in Sergio Mitre if the long man/spot starter was only going to face one batter? But ultimately this loss is on Joba's shoulders, with the Indians smacking him all over the park.

But on a day like yesterday, wins and losses are meaningless. The main reason it ended up being a good day for the Indians was that Huff, who gave a thumbs up to the Yankee Stadium crowd as he was being carted off the field, seems like he will be OK physically. Let's hope the 25-year-old can overcome the horror of that moment and return to the mound soon. I'll be rooting for Huff big time.

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