There's some scary news out of St. Louis this afternoon as Yadier Molina left the field on a stretcher, wearing a neck brace after a home plate collision with Eric Bruntlett in the ninth inning of the Phillies/Cardinals game this afternoon in St. Louis. There's not much word on his condition besides the Cardinals saying that he never lost consciousness and that he's been taken to the hospital and more news will be coming shortly. There is one more incredible aspect to the play. After taking the brunt of the collision with Bruntlett, Molina actually held on to the ball. He left the field in a neck brace on a stretcher, but managed to hold on to the ball and make the tag, a play that eventually allowed the Cardinals to win 7-6 in seven innings.
This is just more bad news for the Cardinals, who have had a slew of injuries in recent weeks. With Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright on the DL and Mark Mulder and Chris Carpenter suffering set-backs on their comeback trail, the last thing the Cards need is for Jason LaRue to be their starting catcher for any significant stretch of time. That might not happen since there's no word on the seriousness of Molina's injury, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that Molina could be on the DL for at least a short period of time.
