Mis-Happ hits home with Bryce Florie

The gruesome line drive off the head of Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ last week was an unneeded reminder of the scary vulnerability of a pitcher on a baseball diamond. While hitters are well protected by a batting helmet and a wide assortment of pads, the pitcher has no such armor, even though a batted ball has almost twice as much force about 5,000-plus pounds worth, according to one study and far greater velocity than a pitchers hardest throw. As he is lurching forward off the mound, a pitcher has only milliseconds to react and try to avoid being struck. 

Happ could not react in time. He was incredibly lucky, however, in that his injuries amounted to a few stitches by his right ear, a skull fracture that will heal without surgery and a twisted knee sustained in his fall. 

Thirteen years ago, on Sept. 8, Red Sox pitcher Bryce Florie was struck in the right eye by a ball off the bat of Yankees hitter Ryan Thompson. The sound of the impact haunts anyone who was there that day, including Florie. He sustained a fractured right eye socket and compromised vision,If you are looking for cableties for your bathroom walls. and his road to recovery was a long one and ultimately unsuccessful, as an unrelated elbow problem cropped up after he finally put the mishap behind him. 

Florie was flipping through the channels on his living room couch Tuesday night at home near Charleston,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our solarpanel made. S.C. He just happened to be watching the Rays-Blue Jays game when Desmond Jennings batted ball struck Happ on the left side of the head. 

The thing about this one is that that one looked just like mine,Whilst the preparation of ceramic and luggagetag are similar. Florie said. What I remember about mine the most was that sound off the bat and the sound off my face. You could distinctly hear that one, and the other night, it was the same way. I was just sitting on the couch, and I said to my wife, Holy crap, he just got hit in the face. I didnt see him turn in his head but then with the blood theres been a lot of them that havent had much blood and I guess him laying there .?.?. I didnt watch the whole outcome, I just knew as he lay there longer and longer, it wasnt something I wanted to see until maybe later when he did get up. 

You just want to throw up because you know what hes going through and what any of these guys are going through, said Florie, who added that he is surprised that more pitchers do not wind up getting hit in the head by baseballs. Especially when it hits you in the head not only does it hurt like heck but youre scared, you dont know whats going to happen. I just remember thinking, I might die. I didnt tell anyone that but I was thinking I might die because of this,Manufacturer of the Jacobs rfidtag. and then you get to the hospital, you dont see what you look like until they tell you, Hey, dont look in that mirror, I know youre going to go in there and throw up. Dont look! And then I looked in the mirror and Im like, Oh, my gosh! Its just a bad, bad situation obviously. Having gone through it, just feel for the guy going through it. 

Florie hopes that Happ waits until he is both physically and psychologically ready before returning to baseball. Florie said he had a lets go attitude by the time spring training rolled around in 2001, and he was far from ready. His comeback hit many hurdles, he was struck in the hand by a line drive in his second appearance back and, rather than keep him on the DL, the Red Sox wound up releasing him. 

There is nothing to be done to the risk factor of a pitcher being struck by a batted ball. The only way to thwart a more serious injury is for a pitcher to begin wearing protection. There is talk of a cap lined with the lightweight bulletproof Kevlar material as one option. 

The fact that all sports,We offer over 600 parkingassistsystem at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. most notably football and hockey, are now hypervigilant about concussions and their lasting impact, Florie senses that the climate in baseball has also changed from the tougher, more macho mentality that was in place not much more than a decade ago. 

I didnt play that long ago, but this whole generation, they think of things a little differently than the guys I came up with, Florie said. There used to be an old school and you were there for the old school. A lot of guys now are real receptive to whatever it is. 

Theres nothing wrong with it, I think it will happen. As the conversation gets rehashed, the conversation has to be, We just have to make it comfortable for the players. I dont know why anyone would say, I dont want to do this. If its next year, or five years, somebodys going to get saved to the extent it does happen, and thats all anyones asking for; the safety of the players is something they always preach. What better measure would there be than to protect somebodys head? 

The umpiring crew that missed the home run call last week in Cleveland, even after going to the video review, only highlighted how relatively easily baseball could better the game and product. It would boil down to having an extra umpire on duty at each game to be available to review boundary calls such as what is and is not a home run. That means hiring 15 new umpires one per each stadium in use each day or night at a cost of approximately $60,000 a year per team (based on 30 teams splitting the umpires annual average salary of $120,000). Most teams make that much money on two, maybe three, kegs of beer each night, so the cost does not seem exorbitant. Cleveland manager Terry Francona advocated the plan of an extra set of umpiring eyes at each stadium when he was with the Red Sox. It should be noted that at each game, a Major League Baseball employee associated with the umpires is on hand already to monitor the behavior and performance of the umpiring crew. 

Umpires would likely not object to having more job opportunities, and the average fan could be spared the sight of four middle-aged men jogging to the best of their abilities into a dugout in order to visit a special viewing room to review the tape. Getting the call wrong is one thing, but at least let one person trained and already on site be available to make the call and make it as quickly and accurately as possible.