Stanley’s Beaning Leads to Second Guessing

The scene was truly frightening. A pitchers’ worst fear. A batter’s darkest nightmare.

Mike Stanley, Boston Red Sox catcher, was lying on the ground, holding his head with both hands. Angel pitcher Mike James, slowly walked to home plate, wondering, and worrying, about the damage he might have caused.

A James’ fastball had just caught Stanley flush on the helmet in the eighth inning of the Angels’ 3-1 victory Friday. He attempted to duck under the pitch, but was struck above his left ear, then dropped to the ground and attempted to crawl on his elbows.

“That is a pretty sobering sound,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “Thank God for helmets.”

Stanley was taken off the field on a stretcher, but conscious. He was taken to Anaheim Memorial Hospital for evaluation. He will remain overnight and will under go a CAT scan today.

“Stanley was not very alert when we talked to him, but at least he knew where he was,” Red Sox Manager Kevin Kennedy said.

James, meanwhile, was sequestered and unavailable for comment.

Everyone else was left to talk, in hushed tones, about the incident.

“I don’t even think he was trying to go inside,” Angel reliever Troy Percival said. “I just think the pitch got away from him. No one goes head-hunting like that.”

The Red Sox were not too sure. Their reaction had a little more edge. Stanley was the second consecutive batter James hit. On the previous pitch, he had hit Jose Canseco on his backside. Canseco’s seemed to smolder all the way to first base. When Stanley was hit, Canseco had to be restrained by first base umpire Mike Reilly.

After the game, the Red Sox’s reaction was a bit more reserved, but questions remained. Kennedy first refused to comment, then questioned James’ intentions.

“Pitching inside is one thing,” Kennedy said. “Hitting two guys is something else.

“I’m tired of our people getting beat up because of our bats. It’s a damn shame that a guy has to spend the night in the hospital.”

Lachemann said there was no reason to think the beanings were intentional. The Angels had a two-run lead with no outs in the eighth.

“That’s not a situation where you want runners on base,” Lachemann said.

James left the game immediately, then buried his head in a towel in the dugout. Percival pitched the final two innings for his 13th save.

For James, it was a performance to forget, four pitches, two hit batters.

James became the Angels setup manearlier this season and has excelled in that role. He is 4-2 with a 1.76 earned-run average. In his previous 30 2/3 innings, he had hit only one batter.

Said Percival: “When a batter hits a line drive off a pitcher’s noggin, he’s not afraid to hit again. Mike has to come back and not let this affect him.”