Indians pitcher Huff hit in head by A-Rod liner

Four sets of tire tracks lined the infield dirt at the shortstop position at Yankee Stadium in the bottom of the third inning Saturday.

The tracks were from a golf cart that had been driven onto and then off the field from the ambulance bay behind the left-centerfield wall.

The passenger for the return trip was Indians pitcher David Huff, who minutes earlier had been hit above the left ear by a line drive off the bat of Alex Rodriguez.

Huff, a 25-year-old lefthander from San Diego, tried to get his glove up as the ball raced at him. He just didn't have enough time. It hit him and bounded all the way to short rightfield.

The impact bent Huff back. He fell to the mound, face-first, as the play went on around him. It was an RBI double for A-Rod and there wasn't a soul on the field or in the stands who cared about that.

Nick Swisher, as he rounded third base to score on the hit, pointed at the mound and tried to call time out. A-Rod, his concern obvious, put both hands on his helmet as he pulled into second base.

Once the play was over, the Indians rushed to the mound from the dugout, the infield, the outfield. Emergency services workers tended to Huff - still face down on the mound with his hands on his head - as Rodriguez crouched behind the mound, head down.

The holiday weekend crowd of 46,599 gasped when the ball hit Huff. Then there was silence after he went down, fear when he didn't get up. Then there were a series of "Oooohs" when replay after replay of the moment of impact were shown on tv screens throughout the ballpark.

Finally, mercifully, after a delay of only minutes that must have felt like hours to the people who know Huff, he was deemed OK enough to load onto a stretcher. Then onto the golf cart for the trip from the mound to the ambulance bay and then to New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The crowd cheered as Huff was lifted onto the cart and as he was driven off. They went absolutely wild when Huff raised his left arm and gave a thumbs up.

To say it was a goosebumps-producing moment is to understate it. Anyone whose heart wasn't in their throat might want to turn in their ID card for the human race.

The Indians later announced that Huff never lost consciousness and had no memory loss. A CT scan was negative and he remained in the hospital for observation.

The game went on.

When the half-inning ended, the Yankee Stadium grounds crew wiped out the tire tracks at the shortstop position. It won't be that easy to erase the memory of what happened to David Huff - and the fear of how it could have been much, much worse.