SAN DIEGO -- Running at full speed, Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron dived and extended their gloves almost simultaneously in the seventh inning Thursday, intent on catching a sinking line drive in right-center field and not the least bit mindful of possible consequences.
The baseball and the two outfielders -- both center fielders by trade -- were airborne when the players' paths intersected, and as their faces collided, the often-unrecognized danger of big-league baseball came to the forefront. The whole ballpark gasped. The occupants of two dugouts inhaled through their teeth as people do in moments or fear.
The Mets reacted as people rather than players. They instantly feared the worst, though they had no real sense of what the worst might mean. No matter, at that moment, as they processed the sickening impact they had witnessed, their day and their perspective had changed.
Within hours Thursday their roster -- and perhaps their season -- had, too.
Cameron was disabled, probably for the remainder of the season, because of multiple injuries. Beltran was sore and still quite dizzy. And the rest of the Mets were hurting, too.
Even before their game with the Padres was lost -- largely because of the line drive that went uncaught -- the Mets suspected they had lost Cameron for the season. Their fears were confirmed when they learned the head-to-head collision with Beltran had caused the Mets right fielder to suffer a concussion that was characterized as slight, multiple fractures of both cheekbones and a broken nose. They had also worried about neck and back problems.
And by late Thursday night, they learned Beltran would be hospitalized overnight as well while doctors awaited results of tests. A concussion was feared.
The 2-1 loss to the Padres and its ramifications mattered little even before the extent of Cameron's injuries was known. Long before the Mets heard the update on Beltran, they had made their way to Los Angeles as a diminished, saddened and shaken team. They would worry about their season some other time.
"From time to time," Tom Glavine had said before leaving the Mets' somber clubhouse, "things happen that put the game in perspective."
"Hats off to those guys for giving such an effort for Tom Glavine. Baseball takes a beating for not being physical, guys are dogging it. You hear that all the time. But we're out there without protection, and there are times like this when it's dangerous. People will look at it as one of the top 10 all-ugly incidents. Why not one of the top 10 great efforts?
"To me, you had two center fielders going after it with everything they've got, and neither one was letting up or backing off. Cameron has been a center fielder all his life, and he still plays like one. Most right fielders will veer off or give way on a play like that, but he went all out, the way he always has. You have to respect that as a player.
"I just hope they're both OK. They have families just like you do, and we're all playing a game."
As Cameron lay on the field -- first on his back, then on his left side -- Floyd spoke to him. "You'll be all right," Floyd said.
Floyd said Cameron acknowledged his words. "But I'm not sure he really understood me," Floyd said.
Cameron, players said, never lost consciousness. Later, Padres president Sandy Alderson, who had witnessed Cameron's being moved outside the clubhouse, said he had been told Cameron had suffered no type of seizure.
The collision had brought others to mind. Mike Piazza recalled one involving Dodgers teammates Delino DeShields and Raul Modesi that left Shields looking in two directions at once. Pedro Martinez recalled Expos teammate Rondell White hitting a wall with his head. And there were thoughts of the time that Steve Henderson and Lee Mazzilli collided in Los Angeles when they played for the Mets.
But this one was different.
FULL STORY :
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/...t_id=1166603&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
ouch =\
Padres win 2-1
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