Blackburn leaves game after taking line drive to the face
Posted on June 1st, 2008 – 2:40 PMBy Joe Christensen
Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn left today’s start in the fifth inning after being hit in the face with a line drive from the Yankees’ Bobby Abreu.
Brian Bass entered in relief. Blackburn walked off the field under his own power.
The ball appeared to hit him on the right side of the face. Abreu seemed shaken up by the incident, as he raised both hands above his head after the ball hit Blackburn, who lay on the mound on his back for a moment.
Blackburn, 26, has been one of the top rookie pitchers in the American League this season. He is 4-3 with a 3.32 ERA
Updates as we get them…
Update (2:47 p.m.): The Twins announced that Blackburn did not lose consciousness. The ball defelected off his glove and hit him square in the nose, the team said. He is being taken for X-rays.
Update (3:50 p.m.): The Twins just announced that the X-rays showed no broken bones. Blackburn did not lose any teeth. He has a bruised nose, and bruised upper lip but is listed as day-to-day.
46 Responses to "Blackburn leaves game after taking line drive to the face"
After Friday’s game I called Abreyu the Twins killer… I guess today he is proving it again! Yowch!
Lets hope its not a broken cheek bone or jaw. Hopefully mentally he can come back and be as strong as ever.
So much for all the talk of Boof going to the bullpen. Looks like Baker and Blackburn could swap places on the DL.
This sucks. He has pitched well all season, and was pitching well today against a solid Yankee lineup.
Hopefully it won’t require time on the DL and he can come back strong.
“Square in the nose” is actually a good sign. The nose makes a much better shock absorber for stray kenetic energy than the eye socket or cheekbone do. (Finger’s crossed)
Yeah, hopefully it is just the nose and no cheek bones or the jaw…
basketball players can play with a guard on their face protecting the nose, so why couldn’t a pitcher pitch?
There should be nothing preventing Casilla being the starting 2B (or perhaps SS) for the Twins for years and years. He’s a dandy player.
MVP looks better than P Fielder rounding all the bases!
I think Blackburn could pitch with a guard, but would that affect his pitching?
Get well soon, Nick.
Did Morneau score? if he did how?
Also, Lamb hitting .300 in May. So 3B is solved.
Cuddy is producing RBI’s (second on the team).
Delmon is a drag, but at least he’s not a hole — an above-average hitter.
So SS is the only hole.
If Everett actually has a full injury recovery, he just may get the starting SS position again, because we’re getting decent offense from the other 8 positions.
Morneau got a triple, and scored on the same play thanks to a throwing error by Cabrera…
Thanks TwinsTerritory.
David, he got a semi-legitimate triple, and the outfielder made a brain-fart throwing error allowing him to go all the way.
“Now batting, our SS hole.”
Lamb is turning it around, so hopefully he can continue and play out his contract. Otherwise, it looks like we may have some solid players coming up at third.
As for Cuddyer, I think he’ll be fine. These past two games it looks like he is getting his groove back.
I think Harris/Punto at short is way better than Everett, and Casilla for me is a must at second from here on out.
Finally, Delmon is just 22, and I want to think this is just his Sophomore slump 
I think he’ll be better this season and in the future as well.
Agree with all you said, TT. I don’t expect Everett to recover.
And in that case, I hope the Twins will not be nostalgic, a la RonDL, and that they will release Everett.
Should Nathan pitch 2 innings today?
Yeah, they need to let Everett go. We have better options at short (two of them) and there is no sense sending someone down so he can be up here.
IDK, I don’t think Gardy will do that. I think it’ll be Guerrier or someone like Breslow for Abreu and then Guerrier for A-Rod and Matsui.
Geez, another 3-ball count to Casilla….
They say that Casilla playing with Gomez (whom he plays with in the DR) has made him more comfortable at the plate.
I don’t know what’s going on, but he has sure gotten a lot better this time around.
I dont get it if Slowey comes in who will pitch for him on Tuesday
Oh yeah….they could also let Breslow go a while too. He’s relatively fresh.
Looks like Crain will stay in…
x-rays negative, bruised nose and upper lip. looks like no DL for blackburn.
great job by the bullpen tonight!
Exactly TT. But Casilla had a .400 OBP to go along with his miserable .200+ BA at Rochester. So not a total surprise.
That’s why I’m saying Casilla is a lock at 2B for years to come.
Years ago, Rivas was looking like he would be a career 2B for the Twins. But that turned out to be a schlump experience. Then Castillo was superb for a year or so, but not the long-term solution.
So you tell me, has it been a decade since the Twins have permanently solved 2B?
Is someone going to have to die before baseball forces pitchers to wear head protection of some sort?
I mean, cracked skulls isn’t enough warning?
BTW, this year Castillo has a .384 OBP with 3 HR’s and is 9 for 10 in SB’s.
So his trade still remains wrong.
And gosh, it’s June 1st —- and Crain is on schedule to being fully recovered! No limits on using him, and he’s almost fully back to his old form.
Rays beat dirty Sox with a walk-off homer AGAIN. One Game out, with Sox playing us this week.
First Place by this time next week?
Mudcat, Rincon gone by this time next week?
So what trade moves does anyone think the Twins will make, if any, by the deadline?
I don’t think Rincon will be gone. Contract is biggest reason. Second his performance in reality (stat wise) is not as bad as perception.
I think the twins will trade rincon for a pitching prospect. (not a bad trade)
Blackie’s nose is gonna smart for a while. Saw the replay, and it didn’t really look that wicked. But I sure wouldn’t want to field an Abray-hoo liner with my face.
This means we better hold on to Rincy Dinc for a while.
“his performance in reality (stat wise) is not as bad as perception.”
In 2006 Rincon walked 2.9 batters per 9 inning game
He has walked 5.5 batters per 9 inning game this year.
Thats a horrible stat which is about the same as my perception.
i would like the twins go after garret atkins, only if their still contending july31. if their contending, you will have to trade livian for prospects.
if their not contending trade livian for prospects
Sane,
I was all prepared for the terrible amount of walks he is giving up, it really is incredible how he can walk so many guys in so few innings. But I was more referring to everyone on these blogs stating the game is lost when he comes in. In his last 10 games, which is something like 13 innings, he has given up 6 ERs and 3 came in the debacle with Detroit. So 3 ERs in 11 innings over 9 appearances. That’s not so bad for a reliever, but WAY too many walks in those 9 appearances.
Delmon is a drag, but at least he’s not a hole — an above-average hitter.
That’s a joke right? How does being the least productive left fielder in the game make you “an above-average hitter”?
dacham,
“But I was more referring to everyone on these blogs stating the game is lost when he comes in.”
If you meant the perception of the BLOG, I retract everything I said.
I was comparing Rincon’s stats to MY perception.
You may have noticed that nothing and nobody is “below average” when evaluated by the blog. Rincon, Punto, Gardy (whoever) are horrible, gawd awful and worse than Satan himself.
No one (including Rincon) is as bad as the blog perception of him.
Sane,
Exactly what I meant (blad it only took 4 back and forths for us to get there
The perception probably falls back on the fact that the Twins have been able to always put together a good bullpen and now there is a former excellent pitcher putting up the numbers of an average bullpen guy.
It’s just funny that some of the people on these blogs make statements not ever based on facts.
Back to Rincon: “He has been terrible since he was caught using steriods”.
Reality:
2003 season was nothing to write home about
2004 season was EXCELLENT
2005 season (suspended first half of May) was a great season
206 season was a great season
2007 was a bad season
2008 not going well, but not bad yet (has to stop the walks)
Yes snepp, I’m for the Twins getting better players in LF, SS & 3B.
