Source: USA TODAY

The reaction was quick once the St. Louis Cardinals broadcasters realized the call had been blown:

“Is that reviewable?” asked analyst and former pitcher Al Hrabosky.

Of course not, though umpire Mark Wegner’s ruling of a ground-rule double Thursday was clearly wrong once the TV audience – and the broadcasters – saw a replay.

The ball hit along the left field line by New York Mets outfielder Rick Ankiel leading off the seventh inning turned into a boundary play – baseball’s current replay use to change calls is limited to boundary plays – but this was the wrong boundary.

Only plays involving potential home runs – fair or foul, over the fence or not – currently can be reviewed, though commissioner Bud Selig said earlier Thursday that baseball is moving closer to expanded replay for 2014.

“My opinion has evolved,” Selig said after Joe Torre, MLB executive vice-president, made a presentation to owners. Torre will be back in front of the owners in August with information from a study and proposals that could lead to expanding replay as far as everything but ball and strike calls.

Thursday’s play in St. Louis would be a prime candidate – a small step, really — no matter how much further baseball is willing to go.

Wegner correctly ruled the ball over third base was fair, but it then bounced into foul territory, where it caromed off the top of the low wall in front of the stands. Cardinals left fielder Allen Craig scooped up the ball and threw to second base in time for second baseman Matt Carpenter to tag out Ankiel.

But Wegner ruled the ball went in and out of the stands and thus was a ground-rule double.

As it turned out, the play had little impact on the game as St. Louis relievers pitched out of what became a bases-loaded jam with the Mets already leading 4-1.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny briefly discussed the play with Wegner.

Torre said one possibility under discussion is allowing managers to challenge calls, like NFL coaches do. He said he does not like the idea of challenges but that opinion is not unanimous on the subcommittee he serves on with former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Braves president John Schuerholz.

The group will make the recommendations to be presented to the owners.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ will be discharged from the hospital Wedneday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he was struck in the head by a line drive.

The Blue Jays released a statement Wednesday morning that Happ suffered a laceration and head contusion when he was struck by a Desmond Jennings line drive Tuesday night.

“He was responsive and doing well after suffering a head contusion and a laceration to his left ear,” the Blue Jays said in a statement. “The Blue Jays anticipate that he will be discharged later today after further testing. The club will provide and update later today should any further information become available.”

Happ was carried off on a stretcher Tuesday night after a line drive ricocheted off his head and into foul territory in short right field at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Happ was on the ground for 10 minutes but was conscious and weakly waved to the crowd as he left.

Jennings’ drive appeared to hit the left side of Happ’s head and ended up being a two-run triple as some of Happ’s teammates chased the ball and other rushed to the mound.

Happ’s head and neck were immobilized by medical personnel before he was wheeled off the field and taken to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was alert and undergoing tests, according to the Associated Press.

Said R.A. Dickey: “I think the last indication was that he was alert and feeling better and had gone for a CT scan. That’s the last I heard.

“It’s devastating. … I could barely watch it. You just don’t know what to think, really. It paralyzes you a little bit. And when it sounds like two bats, when you hear the sound off the bat and it sounds like it hits another bat, it’s scary. It’s really, really scary. I just started praying in the spot. That’s all I knew to do.”

Jennings’ hit gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead but Toronto rallied to win 6-4.

Jennings was clearly shaken by the incident.

Said Rays manager Joe Maddon: “That was a real scary moment. That was awful. I hope that he’s well.”

Happ, 30, is in his seventh season in the majors and his first full year with Toronto, who acquired him from Houston in a trade last July. The Philadelphia Phillies took Happ in the third round of the 2004 draft and he debuted with them in 2007. He entered Tuesday’s game with a 37-37 career record and was 2-2 this year with a 3.98 earned run average.

Last season, Brandon McCarthy, then with the Oakland Athletics, was hit by a liner that fractured his skull. He underwent emergency brain surgery raising questions about player safety.

“We are actively meeting with a number of companies that are attempting to develop a product, and have reviewed test results for several products,” MLB spokesman Pat Courtney told the AP in an email. “Some of the products are promising. No company has yet developed a product that has satisfied the testing criteria.”

The incident occurred 56 years to the day after one of baseball’s most significant pitcher injuries, when young star Herb Score of the Cleveland Indians was struck by a line drive hit by Gil McDougald of the New York Yankees, breaking Score’s facial bones and injuring his eye.

McDougald ran to the mound rather than first base after the ball hit Score, who had set a major league rookie strikeout record with 245 in 1955. Score recovered but was never again nearly as effective, though he blamed his problems on a subsequent arm injury.

Contributing: AP reports

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.