I got hit with a batted ball again this week--I feel like I'm a marked man. It's rare to see someone get hit by a ball--yet I've had more balls come at me than a gay porn star. Man, I've had a lot of close calls over the past six months. I've only discussed the ones that hit me: there's been a lot of near-misses, too...and as far as I can tell, it's just me. No one else on my team seems to have balls come their way--I'm the only one.

The opposing team was short a guy so they had to play without a second baseman. After every pitch, the pitcher stepped towards right field in case a ball got hit that way. Most of the time it's a futile effort--one player simply can't cover that much ground. But it helps slow the bleeding because at least teams can't intentionally try and hit it there.

I was standing on second base with our three-hitter up. One the very first pitch, I saw where the pitcher was throwing the ball, the batter was in the box, and the nature of his swing I knew it immediately: He's going to hit me. When you've been playing as long as I have, you can get a general feel of where a batted ball is going to go before it happens--it just sorta comes with experience.

Luckily the first two pitches were balls and the batter didn't swing. But on the third pitch, after the pitcher cleared an open lane by shifting towards right field, my teammate hit a ball hard up the middle. I saw it was going to hit me and didn't have much of a chance to get out of the way. It was coming towards my head (big shock). I put my arms in front of my face and fell backwards to the ground. The ball struck me on the wrist and rolled towards centerfield.

I did the only thing I could do: I got up and ran towards third base. I sorta had to because we already had a runner on first. Even though I didn't take a blow to the head, I was a little wobbly as I ran towards the bag. Maybe it was just the effects of having your life flash before your eyes (again).

Incidents like this worry me. As I get older, it takes much longer to heal. And for reasons I can't figure out, it seem situations keep happening to me where I get hurt. It didn't used to be like this. I never had a fear of getting hit by the ball because I never got hit by the ball. But now that I've reached the point in my life where getting hit actually hurts, I'm getting smacked around like a drunk man's wife.

My latest fear comes from something that actually hasn't happened to me...yet. I'm finding it harder and harder to run out groundballs. A lot of the guys in the league have rocket arms...and cannonball accuracy. It doesn't help that most of the guys playing first base are there because they're lousy fielders. I just know--one of these days--a throw is gonna be offline and hit me someplace uncomfortable. Especially on the back half of a doubleplay ball. The guy throwing the ball is rushing the throw. It's going to be inline with the first base...right around the time I'm going to get there. I'll have no chance of seeing it coming. And the only place it'll hit me will be on the side of my head--squarely in the temple. I'd rather get thrown out by five feet than nailed by some hotshot trying to relive his high school glory days.

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