May 03, 2008
Double Blow
Carlos Gomez received a double whammy last night:
Gomez is starting to look like a catalyst at leadoff. He reached base his three times and thereby generated three of the Twins' first four runs. Then Minnesota scored seven runs off the bullpen over its final two at-bats for an 11-1 win.
The third run Gomez contributed to came in the fifth, which he opened with a single off right-hander Armando Galarraga. A moment later, Gomez took off on a steal attempt, and he slid head-first into second.
As he was sliding, catcher Ivan Rodriguez's throw hit him on the back of the helmet. And Gomez's head hit the knee of second baseman of Placido Polanco.
Having absorbed two blows to the head, Gomez lay motionless, face down at second base, for several minutes.
Then he got up and walked slowly to a nearby cart that took him off the field.
The Twins soon announced that Gomez hadn't lost consciousness and that team doctors had examined him in the clubhouse and determined he was OK. The club said there were no plans for him to be taken anywhere for further tests.
That's why you wear a helmet running the bases. Although he's 13 for 14 stealing bases, Gomez's OBA is just .299. He's only draw three walks; one in March, one in April, and one in May. The May walk occurred Friday night, so don't expect another for a while. :-) He'll need to improve his OBA if he's going to stick around as a leadoff hitter.