The ball hit the glove first, then went off his face. However, that doesnt change the fact that the ball was still going at a high enough speed to hit off his face and fly into left field. The ball was at least going 60-70 mph.
bizarre, ain't it? big no-no to go against popular opinion on this board apparently. now we have the original poster claiming the ball never even touched his glove (visual proof? meh. what did that ever prove!?). i'm telling you, a year from now we'll be talking about that day that valverde got a ball lodged in his brain by a line drive, had to be resuscitated back to life on the field, then insisted on finishing the game, but had to pitch with one of his eyeballs because there were no more baseballs left in the stadium.
Valverde is still a drama queen...regardless. But, I find it boosts morale and rubs it in for the other team. So, I'm all for it.
Was the incident as bad as the Chris Young one? Well, no. Valverde probably won't miss time, though he may be a little sore today, while Young is out indefinitely. But, it's a pretty scary proposition throwing 90+ mph at big league hitters standing only 60 feet away from you. The pitcher is the closest player on the field to the batter (excluding the catcher, who has protective gear for just that reason) and is left relatively helpless for a moment after releasing the ball. An inch or two towards the center of his face and he very well could have lost teeth or broken his nose or damaged an eye. It didn't, thankfully, but that incident is nothing to shortchange. Nor shouldn't it be overlooked that he had the mental capacity after that to not only continue pitching (which I'd imagine any player would have done) BUT to close out the game (which not every pitcher could have accomplished I'm sure).
the truth is somewhere in between the strawman you set up here and your immediate reaction to it last night. it wasn't that he was dying...it's that he had the composure to get right back up on the mound IMMEDIATELY (within minutes) after that moment and close it out. it's admirable. and it's ok to be a fan.
i already said that it was impressive from a mental standpoint that he was able to regroup from the shock of a ball hitting his face and pitch reasonably well. the bottom line is that he was able to continue pitching because he wasn't hurt, not because he's superman and fought through a severe injury. it's also ok to be an objective fan, by the way (well, maybe not on this board).
damn what a hoss! i had goosebumps seeing him close out after the hit. this guy is a complete badass. wow!
apparently, cardpie has come to the BBS feeling good about himself with the whole "i'm not a homer therefore I am smarter than the rest of you" shtick, not realizing how played out it is
He was being a drama queen. I always knew them, where is he from, them puerto ricans or whatever knew how to act.
Sure...it's ok to be objective. It is NOT ok to completely ignore and dismiss how hard he got hit in the dome by a batted ball. I promise you he was hurting pretty badly. Again...if you really don't think it's a big deal, stand 60 feet from the plate and let one of these guys bounce one off your head.
Come on, don't be annoying for the sake of being annoying. He wasn't hurt? I'm sure he was. I'm sure adrenaline helped shield some pain. And I'm pretty damn sure he was fighting through some pain too. When Isiah limped through the 4th quarter on that ankle, did he continue playing because he wasn't hurt? Anyway, thanks for the video. I wasn't able to see it either live. Gives you chills to see a guy able to come through for his team after a tough situation and care so much about it.
I know Valverde also said he was a bit dizzy, although you'd like to think that if the trainers felt worried about concussion symptoms they would've taken him out of the game. Regardless, I see your point, but I think it was a little more serious than you are making it out to be. Regardless, let's all just be happy that he's okay, that he got the save, AND that he's pitched a hell of a lot better recently than he did to start the year. Dude was a gas can for a few weeks, and it cost us 3 or 4 crucial games.....
