Comebackers Constantly in Back of Pitcher’s Minds

The time it takes to read the first five words of this sentence is the time it takes for a line drive to split open a pitcher’s head, shatter his arm into jagged bone, double him over gasping for air or cut down his legs as if he were ripened summer wheat.

That’s the time it took for a Kelly Stinnett liner to put Houston Astros closer Billy Wagner on the ground July 15, legs twitching, blood trickling from his left ear.

“I saw it,” Wagner recalls. “I was just too slow.”

Wagner recovered from a concussion and is pitching again, certain to be a factor in the National League postseason picture. The Astros went nearly three weeks without their closer and held first place in the N.L. Central. The Baltimore Orioles saw their No. 1 starter, Mike Mussina, felled by a Sandy Alomar liner, precipitating a miserable first half for the team. Other clubs, contenders and non-contenders alike, have watched key pitchers get drilled.

And as the season moves into its final month, comebackers are an unpredictable “X” factor nobody wants to think about. If, say, San Diego Padres ace Kevin Brown went down, San Diego’s World Series dreams virtually would vanish.

“It’s dangerous not only to your career, but your health,” says San Francisco Giants right-hander Orel Hershiser, who survived an Alex Rodriguez liner off his pitching wrist in June. “I try not to think about it too much. It’s just part of the game.”

What’s it like to be hit by a line drive? Descriptions are sparse because pitchers unlucky enough to be struck all say the same thing--it’s over before it begins. Swing, contact, thud, aargh! Our efforts to take you inside a pitcher’s head at this unfortunate moment reveal throbbing pain. Pass the aspirin and ice pack.

Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Scott Karl, who saved his face by getting a hand in front of a line drive hit by Montreal’s Shane Andrews in April, provides an account:

“I didn’t even really see the ball. My initial reaction was to cover my face because that’s the most open area. I threw my hands up. I heard the crack and I lost it. I knew it was coming back at me. I sensed it.

“That was it. The ball hit me so hard it bounced to our second baseman, who threw him out by five steps. My catcher came running out thinking I had got it in the face.

“I was actually more scared and a little sick to my stomach afterward, just thinking about what could have happened. I saw it the next morning. I watched my reaction time. I didn’t even flinch until the ball was halfway there.”

Statistics are not kept on line-drive casualties, but most pitchers and managers believe we are seeing a bumper crop. Randomness is a factor, as always, but variable factors are hitting and pitching philosophies, strength of hitters, hitting equipment, strike zone, fielding technique and visual backgrounds behind the plate.

More pitchers are being hit because more hitters stride toward the plate, more pitchers throw on the outer half of the plate, more sinkers are thrown, hitters are better-conditioned and stronger, more hitters are wearing protective pads (and thus are fearless), bats are lighter and whippier, umpires are calling distended strike zones, fewer pitchers field properly and several new ballparks have blinding backgrounds behind the plate.

Of those, protective hitting pads and the strike zone could be subject to legislative remedies, though no changes are imminent.

No injuries this season have been career-threatening, such as when the Cleveland’s Herb Score was felled by a liner hit by the Yankees’ Gil McDougald in 1957; however, a few came close, such as Wagner’s, and virtually every incident leaves a stadium eerily quiet as fans try to digest what they’ve seen. Fortunately, scary as the incidents can look, they often aren’t serious, one reason some teams remain contenders:

After a 15-day stint on the disabled list, Wagner made three rehab appearances for double A Jackson before rejoining the Astros on August 7. In his first six appearances upon his return, Wagner did not allow an earned run. His recovery is as important to the Astros as the trade for Randy Johnson.

Anaheim Angels left-hander Chuck Finley left a game July 24 against the Kansas City Royals after being hit on the left elbow by a Jeff King liner. Finley’s fourth-inning exit came as the Royals scored three runs en route to a 4-3 victory. Finley’s next start was pushed back a couple of days, whereupon he shut out the Yankees for eight innings. (Finley also had been hit by a line drive in May.)

Hershiser, whose Giants are in the wild-card hunt, says he did not see the line drive off Rodriguez’s bat: “That’s one way to get hit. Another is to see but not be able to get out of the way because of no depth perception. Another is if the ball goes in your blind spot.”

A rash of line drives sabotaged Baltimore’s staff and may be as responsible as any single factor for the club’s poor first half. Mussina’s nose was broken (he also suffered facial lacerations) May 14, forcing him to the D.L. and costing him four starts. Doug Drabek was hit in the chest and groin. Reliever Norm Charlton, released in July and now with the Atlanta Braves, was hit in the nose by a Frank Thomas shot. Armando Benitez was drilled in the leg. Arthur Rhodes took a Ken Griffey Jr. shot in the gut.

Mussina returned June 6 and was shelled by the Braves. He endured another bad start in June but just one bad outing in July. Mussina says he is lucky he never saw the ball that smashed his nose--no nightmarish flashbacks.

More line drives are careening through the box. Evidence is largely anecdotal, with suggestive statistical support: Since 1988, STATS, Inc., has recorded where batted balls go, charting 22 areas on the field. From 1991 through ‘97, batted balls to center field increased by 6 percent and the overall “pull” quotient declined by 3 percent. If more balls are being hit to center, then it follows that more liners are going through the box.

Prevailing hitting and pitching approaches are partially responsible. The teachings of Walt Hriniak and the late Charlie Lau--stride toward the plate, weight shift to front side, top-hand release, go with the pitch--are embraced by many hitters. Their so-called “dive” approach improves hitters’ coverage of the outer half of the plate. Such hitters go to the opposite field, or if they are a split second in front of the pitch, through the middle. Moreover, top-hand release allows for greater extension, translating into increased bat speed and sharper line drives.

“Not as many guys try to pull the ball as 15 to 20 years ago,” says Hriniak, a retired hitting coach. “They look for the ball over the plate and use the opposite side of the field. Hitters are getting real strong middle out.”

Meanwhile, pitchers throw increasingly to the outer half of the plate, precisely where hitters are looking. High school and college usage of aluminum bats encourages pitchers to throw away, because aluminum enables hitters to fist off inside pitches, as well as providing increased bat speed to turn and go deep. Umpires contribute by calling an outside strike with more “give,” it is said, because they set up over the catcher’s inside shoulder and have a difficult angle to the outer half of the plate.

“Pitchers don’t pitch inside, so hitters are programmed on two strikes to look away,’ says Hall of Fame right-hander Jim Palmer, a TV analyst. “The fact is that (umpires) don’t call high strikes, and the belt-high strike over the inside corner is very difficult to get. So the approach is to look over the outside of the plate. What are you taught? Hit the ball back up the middle. The whole approach is, ‘I’m going to take the outside two-thirds of the plate away from the pitcher.’ ”

Protective pads reduce whatever risk remains for the hitter. Occasionally, pitchers forget themselves, or let the ball slip, and come inside. A few pitchers--Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Kevin Brown--actually throw inside tactically. But padding for elbows, wrists, shins and ankles enables hitters to stand in with impunity.

“I’m not giving up that (outside) part of the plate no matter how many times you hit me,” says Padres catcher/first baseman Jim Leyritz, who has been hit no fewer than six times in any season since 1992 and uses an elbow pad. “We wear pads so when we do get hit, we don’t have to sit down a week.”

Red Sox third baseman John Valentin, who wears an elbow pad, says, “We all like to be on top of the plate. If you get hit on the elbow, you’re done, maybe a week. It’s just a matter of staying out of the line of fire for me.”

Umpires discourage throwing inside, Charlton claims, by chilling pitchers with quick warnings. Hitters egg on umpires, he says, by theatrically overreacting to inside pitches.

“There has to be some fear or respect in hitters’ eyes,” Charlton says. “If I come inside, he has to give up some part of the outside of the plate. That part of the game is basically gone. Why throw in there against guys wearing pads? If I throw in there, he’s not even going to be bruised the next day.”

Padding could be legislated against, Charlton says, except that offense sells tickets and owners want marquee hitters protected.

Houston’s Wagner says: “I don’t think (pads) should be allowed if the pitcher can’t wear a helmet out there. That’s not part of the game. There should be a fear factor on both sides, mound and plate. When one gets an advantage, it hurts the other.”

A spokesman for the commissioner’s office, Rich Levin, says padding is not a pending issue. The players union is not putting pads on its agenda until it has stronger evidence of increasing risk, as well as more complaints from pitchers. Union associate counsel Gene Orza suggests that if in fact more pitchers are being struck, it might be because hitters are bigger and stronger and thus hitting the ball with greater impact.

“If the ball is coming back 10 mph faster, the analogy is a batter trying to get out of the way of a Nolan Ryan fastball as opposed to an average fastball,” Orza says.

Coming back after being hit, Orioles Manager Ray Miller says, is a test of courage, character and confidence. Charlton was back pitching two days after being drilled. Mussina came back when his head was swollen and he couldn’t run his normal distance. After a two-hit shutout of the Detroit Tigers August 4, he appeared no worse for the wear.

“Mussina is a very tough individual, most pitchers are,” Miller says. “They’re not timid people by nature. They have great intensity, and they compete well. Once they’re involved in competition, I doubt most of them think about it. The ones you worry about are the young kids, who might not be as stable. They might think about it.”

Wagner, who wears No. 13, intends to pitch as if the line drive never happened. “I sure won’t be thinking about it in a game,” he says. “Pitching is the only thing I know to do. I’m not going to let a line drive take that away from me.”