GIANTS JOE MARTINEZ DRILLED

FROM YOU TUBE - IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH, DO NOT VIEW THE VIDEO




FROM GIANTS MLB.COM REPORT
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090409&content_id=4205706&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf

This is the pitchers worst nightmare. It has to be their equivalent of a hitter getting drilled in the head by a fastball that they cannot get out of the way of.

It is one of the reasons why, baseball is the most difficult sport. Having to mentally overcome the fear of these type of events and still perform your job--from a mental and emotional aspect--is incredibly difficult. You have to mentally override your brains safety and survival mechanisms. Not an easy thing to do, they are there for a reason.

I don't know if there is any equivalent in other sports quite like it. A blind-side check in hockey or a wide receiver getting hit running over the middle perhaps? I don't know, in both those sports, the hit is somewhat predictable--players have their heads on a swivel. The blow is dispersed over a wider area of the body. It's bone jarring yes. Life threatening, I don't think so. In most cases anyway.

These events, the come-backer to the pitcher and the shot to the hitters head, strike like lightning. Simply nothing you can do.

Prayers go out to the Giants Joe Martinez as well as Mike Cameron--the batter--who was visibly distraught after the incident.