Praying for Clement
By Karlsie
The plan was simple. After I finished writing the articles and columns I was assigned for my paper, I was going to sit down this morning and write about the fantasy games played in Fenway on Sunday.
Then I saw Trot Nixon in real pain in the top of the third. Just as I was able to block that out and focus back on the game, I saw Matt Clement literally knocked off his feet by a Crawford line drive.
Like most of those who witnessed that horrible event, for five minutes I prayed and prayed hard. I remember my first three prayers, in quick succession.
My first prayer was, "Please let him be OK."
My second was, "Please let someone be sitting next to his wife who could comfort her when she saw it."
My third was "Please don't let his baby have seen that."
OK, the second two were more wishes than prayers - because there was nothing that could be done about those two things after the fact. The fact still remains that for five long minutes, I prayed and prayed hard for Clement to be alive and well.
This morning, hoping to escape the horrible endless loop of replays, I turned on CNN to find out what else was going on in the world. But there it was - the replay yet again along with some snotty commentator going on about, "This is why pitchers should wear helmets…" and then speculated maybe they didn't because wear helmets because it wasn't "manly."
I went to check my AOhelL email and there it is on my opening screen, "Red Sox pitcher hit in head by line drive."
We can't escape what happened - but we can do something, we can hope and pray that Clement is fine, that he is able to come back and do something he loves: pitch; and that he can do it without fear.
I'll write about the fantasy game later, but for now, my thoughts and prayers are with Clement, the Sox and his family.
