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Major League Baseball players aren't easily shook.

They play a game of failure, as the old saying goes, and I'm sure if anyone could examine and quantify such a thing, they'd find that as many would-be big-leaguers are derailed somewhere along the way by a lack of psychological resilience as by a lack of physical skills. When these guys rattle off platitudes about "taking it one day at a time" and "just focusing on my next at-bat," they're not lying. Baseball is built to ruin you. Outside of exceptions so rare you can already conjure up their names — Steve Blass, Chuck Knoblauch, Mackey Sasser, Rick Ankiel — guys who reach the Majors are incredibly good at moving on from misfortune.

And that — to me, at least — is what made a miserable moment in a nationally televised Cubs-Astros game in Houston on Wednesday night so striking and so gut-wrenching.

In the top of the fourth inning, Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. ripped a line drive into the stands just beyond the dugout along the third-base line. Almora watched as it hit a 4-year-old girl.

The broadcast did not show the ball striking the child, but based on Almora's reaction, it must have been terrifying to witness. The 25-year-old father of two appeared to be in tears as he took time to collect himself before stepping back into the batter's box. After striking out to end his at-bat, he sat on the Cubs bench looking stunned and scared.

Between innings, Almora went over to the section where the girl had been sitting and spoke to a security guard who presumably gave him the same relatively positive news the public would find out later: The girl was conscious and responsive, and taken to a nearby hospital.

Obviously her physical health is paramount here. From the sounds of the Astros' press release, which said the team "is not able to disclose any further details at this time," her family understandably wants privacy. We have photos showing the girl crying as a man rushes her up the aisle, but I'm not moved to share them.

Here, instead, is Almora after speaking to the security guard:

It's a horrible thing, plain and simple. And while I normally try to avoid spinning plain, simple horrible things into knee-jerk reactionary takes, this particular incident would've been avoided if MLB and its teams had heeded longstanding player demands for more netting to protect fans. Before the 2018 season, all 30 MLB teams agreed to extend nets to at least the far end of dugouts.

It's a labor issue: Players do not want to have to deal with the emotions Almora dealt with on Tuesday, and so they proposed in both the 2007 and 2012 collective-bargaining agreements that mandatory netting extend from foul pole to foul pole at all 30 parks.

Teams didn't like it, insisting that fans paying big money for unobstructed seats down the lines would complain about anything separating them from the action. But there's a glaring logical flaw there, because the most expensive seats in every park are the ones right behind home plate, there's always a net separating those seats from the field, and if you're lucky enough to score a ticket for that section, you'll note that you stop noticing the net entirely after, like, five seconds.

Some will argue — and do argue, every time this comes up - that fans should simply put down their phones and stay alert. But as someone who actually plays baseball regularly and still once caught a pop up to the face while standing directly under it with a glove on, I can promise you it's not that easy. There is far more power and far more velocity in Major League Baseball than ever before, and batted balls ripped into the stands can slice and hook and ricochet in all sorts of unpredictable ways. Fans shouldn't be expect to have Major League caliber reflexes.

A woman died last August due to injuries sustained from a foul ball to the head at Dodger Stadium. The solution is obvious and overdue.

Wednesday's big winner: Mike Milbury

The former Islanders GM turned on-air analyst dropped a "What the fudge?" on live TV. It's so good. I don't think Mike Milbury intended it to skewer the FCC and our societal notions of what constitutes profanity but I believe it totally did that. I personally think we should all just say "fudge it" and agree that cursing is OK. Let's lower the bar!

Quick hits: Klay on Drake, Belichick, Dingers

- Klay Thompson likes some of Drake's music, but not all of it, and during the NBA Finals against Drake's beloved Toronto Raptors, Thompson is prepared to skip the Drake songs he does not like.

- Before the Bruins' loss to the Blues in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Tuesday, Bill Belichick robotically waved a Bruins flag to fire up the Boston crowd. This is the most demonstrative Bill Belichick has ever been.

- Baseball guy are hitting so many dingers. I wrote about it.

Thirsty Thursday

It's Shin-Soo Choo, showing off some fly hair, enjoying a beverage.