High & Inside: NL Notes
Child injured by line drive expected to recover Good news from Los Angeles, where a 3-year-old girl, whose skull was fractured by a line drive during batting practice Monday at Dodger Stadium, underwent surgery Tuesday.
Child injured by line drive expected to recover
Good news from Los Angeles, where a 3-year-old girl, whose skull was fractured by a line drive during batting practice Monday at Dodger Stadium, underwent surgery Tuesday.
Officials from Children's Hospital Los Angeles said they expected the girl will be well enough for release by the end of the week and anticipate a full recovery.
She was hurt when Dodgers catcher Russell Martin hit a ball into the stands near third base, hitting the girl and knocking her unconscious, said Dodgers spokesman Joe Jareck. The girl was sitting with her father, who rushed her to the first-aid station. The fire department transported her to the hospital.
Jareck said batting practice continued, but Martin, who has offered to pay for her medical expenses, was shaken by the incident. The catcher was not in the lineup for Monday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, but played Tuesday.
Martin said he spoke with the girl's father on Tuesday.
"I'm just glad to hear that she had surgery earlier today and she's doing better, and long-term she's going to be OK," Martin said. "It's definitely tough for the whole family, but at least the good news is that she's going to be OK."
Martin said he'd like to visit the girl when the time is right.
"She's OK today, so that's a good thing," he said.
Waiting for Harper
Now that Stephen Strasburg is in the majors - you may have read about that someplace - we can all relax, right?
No! The Bryce Harper Watch starts . . . now!
Day One: The overall No. 1 pick in Monday's baseball draft says he's fine with the Washington Nationals' plans to transform him from a catcher to a rightfielder. The 17-year-old prospect mostly played behind the plate in junior college, but says he is "pretty stoked" about the shift to the outfield.
He also says he will let agent Scott Boras handle negotiations, while he takes it easy and does some fishing.
Boras and the Nats were able to reach agreement last year after Strasburg was the No. 1 pick.
But any Phillies fan old enough to remember Boras' tactics over J.D. Drew (hey, wasn't he supposed to be a lock for the Hall of Fame by now?) can't be blamed for thinking the odds are even that Harper will be back behind the plate for the College of Southern Nevada next year or calling pitches for the Sioux Falls Pheasants this summer.