Diaz, Cora Collision Was Scary

They have been teammates for more than a month, but Alex Diaz and Joey Cora had never met under similar circumstances - and hope not to again.

Their collision in shallow center field Sunday night sent Cora to the hospital and had Diaz limping around the clubhouse 24 hours later.

Both had vivid memories and a few blank spots about what happened when each set off in pursuit of a pop fly ball.

“The last thing I remember was Alex yelling ‘Joey, Joey,’ and I thought I caught the ball,” Cora said. “The next thing I remember clearly was being in the clubhouse.”

Nothing else?

“Well, I remember getting hit,” he said.

Cora was examined for hours at a Seattle hospital Sunday before doctors ruled out a broken jaw, and though the damage was not as bad as it could have been, stitches were needed to close a long, ugly gash on his lower lip. He probably won’t play in the series against the New York Yankees.

Diaz recalled the collision, too, saying at the last instant before they hit face-to-face he knew it was going to be bad. It was.

“I was out for a second, and I remember seeing Joey really bleeding, and I thought I ought to turn him over so he wouldn’t choke on the blood,” Diaz said. “I turned him over a little and then I was out.”

By the time manager Lou Piniella got to the scene, his experience told him he had an infielder with a broken jaw and an outfielder bleeding heavily from a cut over his left eye.

“I’d have bet money Joey’s jaw was broken,” Piniella said. “And I didn’t know how bad Alex was.”

Diaz stayed in the game, got stitches later and was treated for a bruised knee Monday - but was asked to start in center field again.

Cora finally saw a video replay of the collision.

“It was a pretty good one,” he said, shaking his head. “I didn’t realize I was really out until I saw it, but I was.”

Slow recovery

The tight left hamstring that has plagued Jay Buhner since last week is no better, though he has played only as the DH since Friday and didn’t play Sunday or Monday. He probably won’t play, except as a pinch hitter, in the series with New York, because Piniella is afraid to use Buhner before Friday in Boston is to risk worsening the injury.

“If Buhner gets hurt, I’m going home to barbeque,” Piniella said, “because if he gets hurt about all I could do at the park is barbeque, anyway.”

Notes

Seattle’s victory over Baltimore on Sunday came without benefit of an extra-base hit, the second time this season the Mariners have won without one… . Seattle’s pitching staff leads the American League in strikeouts and the offense leads the league in doubles, and intentional walks. … Bobby Ayala’s 25 saves as a Mariner puts him in seventh place on the franchise all-time list. His next save will tie him for sixth place with Enrique Romo… . Tino Martinez entered Monday’s game batting .424 in the Kingdome this season… . With nine RBI in his first 22 games, catcher Dan Wilson is 13 games ahead of his 1994 pace.