Mike Trout's Broken Bat Hits Umpire Nate Tomlinson in the Face

Home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson fell victim to some unbelievably bad luck last night during the ninth inning of the Angels-Dodgers game as Mike Trout's bat snapped and somehow found its way completely through a protective mask. Tomlinson crumpled to the ground and could be seen bleeding. His injuries were significant enough to cause him to leave the game, but there is good news this morning as Bob Nightengale reports Tomlinson escaped serious injury. He did sustain cuts to his face, but all things considered, it could have been worse.

Can honestly say I've never seen that in three decades of watching baseball. And when you see the slow-motion replay, it's amazing that the angles betrayed Tomlinson like that. It will hopefully be a long, long time until such a freak occurrence happens again.

On a far less important note, Laz Diaz, who had been working second base, was pulled into relief duty down the stretch behind the plate and was forced to make no fewer than a dozen fringe calls on balls and strikes. And he nailed every single one of them, including the called looking to end the game. We give these umpires a hard time but the job is harder and more dangerous than it looks.