If you didn’t see the video of Hiroki Kuroda getting dropped by a line drive this weekend, consider yourself lucky. But, if you still want to see it, click on over and take a gander. It’s horrifying in it’s directness: pitcher throws ball; batter hits ball; ball comes directly back at pitcher’s face missing his face and eyes by inches. These are the events that can prevent pitchers from ever taking the field again for both physical and psychological reasons and it was apparent in the crowd’s reaction on Saturday night that this was not just some everyday comebacker at the pitcher.
Having said all that, there were some funny aspects of the hit:
1. Watch the replay again. The ball bounces so hard off of Kuroda’s head that it goes into the stands for a ground rule double. That’s probably the shortest hit double in the history of baseball. The run at second eventually came around to score. Read the rest of this entry »
