There has been a lot of blood spilled in the Canadian leg of the Stanley Cup Playoffs..."/> There has been a lot of blood spilled in the Canadian leg of the Stanley Cup Playoffs..."/>

J.A. Happ Hit on Head With Line Drive, Taken Away on Stretcher (Video)

By Josh Hill | May 7, 2013

Apr 17, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher J.A. Happ (48) throws agains the Chicago White Sox at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

There has been a lot of blood spilled in the Canadian leg of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the violence has crossed over to baseball. Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ had to be taken off the field on a stretcher after he was drilled in the skull by a line drive off the bat os Desmond Jennings. After being his on the head, Happ lay motionless in his own blood, as the scene was one of fear and panic in Tampa.

Thankfully, Happ was moving his arms and waved to the crowd while being taken away, but it’s still unknown if he suffered any fractures or if how severe the concussion he endured is.

Happ’s injury isn’t an unheard of one in baseball, although it’s uncommon. Line drives coming back at pitchers are nothing new but every so often a guy fails to get out of the way in time and get struck. More often than not it’s a deflection off a shoulder, hip or foot but the head isn’t spared and it’s a dangerous thing when that’s the target of the line drive.

Worse for Happ is the fact that after the ball bounced off his skull, it’s flew and rolled all the way to the first base foul line and up to along the barrier.

Last season Oakland A’s pitcher Brandon McCarthy took a line drive right off his head much like Happ had happen to him, and he ended up suffering a skull fracture and bleeding in the brain. Hopefully that’s not the case with Happ, but regardless we still have a nasty situation unfolding in Tampa Bay and it’s something we’ll be watching moving forward.