Indians' Huff jokes day after liner hit him in head

And to think, David Huff didn't even have a headache.

A day after being struck on the left side of the head by Alex Rodriguez's line drive, the Indians pitcher was alert, coherent and cracking jokes about his misfortune.

"I haven't had the need for Tylenol or anything like that," said a cheery Huff, who showed off the sizable knot over his left ear. "I kind of forget I got hit and I'm scratching my head, like, 'Oh, wait. That hurts.' "

A stunned Stadium crowd of 46,599 watched as Huff lay face-down and motionless on the mound after being struck in the third inning of Saturday's 13-11 Indians win. The ball ricocheted off Huff's head into rightfield, and Rodriguez, who reached second base on the play, knelt on the infield grass and stared at the prone pitcher in disbelief.

"Definitely your heart stopped there," Rodriguez said. "David laid there for it seemed like 30 minutes, although it was probably three or four minutes, so that made it more scary . . . I literally saw that ball going to his head in slow motion . . . It just sounded like it hit a brick wall."

Huff, whose parents and older brother were in attendance Saturday, said he never saw the ball once it made contact with Rodriguez's bat.

"If I saw it, I probably would have caught it," he joked. "I remember everything. It was a changeup down and away and A-Rod hit it right back up at me. All I know is I went to the ground. And I've always been told growing up if you get hit in the neck or the head, lie still.

"It's one of those things, it could have been an inch this way, it could have been an inch down and I wouldn't be here talking to you guys, so I definitely dodged a bullet."

Huff, who did not lose consciousness or suffer memory loss, will be monitored every six to eight hours the next few days, Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff said.

A shaken Rodriguez went to the hospital after Saturday's game to see Huff, only to be told by the Yankees' PR staff that the pitcher already had returned to the Stadium. Rodriguez eventually called Huff and they chatted for about five or 10 minutes.

"It was a good conversation," Huff said. "I was trying to get him to laugh because I know he was struck pretty hard emotionally."

Said Rodriguez: "The one thing I know I was concerned is, was his family in the stands. I know that if my family - my daughters, my mother - my mother, God, who knows what she'd be thinking. Sure enough, his whole family was here. So we spoke for maybe five or 10 minutes. He's just a really nice guy. He was in good spirits."

Huff said he was especially grateful to the Yankees' security staff and team doctors.

"They were so good, so quick and on the scene so fast, before I could even blink," he said. "It was scary, but they took good care of me and because of them, I'm here right now talking to you guys."