It also sparked reaction from one worried mother who had to explain her concern to a fan of the Chicago White Sox, the Twins' rival in the American League Central Division race.

"There were two gentlemen sitting in back of me," said Vicki Ryan, who watched the play unfold in the Twins' 5-3 victory at Cleveland. "And one man said, 'What are you getting so upset about?'

"I said, 'Well, as a matter of fact, that's my son.' He said, 'Oh, he'll be fine. He'll get up.' And I said, 'I am upset because I don't want it to be anything serious.' And I went on to say that he's just had a recent call-up and he's on the playoff roster and, outside of the fact that I don't want any terrible injury here, I want him to be able to play in the playoffs.

"And he said, 'Well, it's like this: They're not going to make it to the playoffs anyway.' And I said, 'Oh yes? And why is that?' And he said, 'Because I'm from Chicago.' "

The native of Indiana's two-run single in the sixth inning accelerated an eight-run rally that fueled the Twins' 13-6 victory over the Indians on Monday. The victory put the Twins a half-game in front of the idle White Sox. Ryan went 1-for-5.

For one day, though, Ryan spent much of the day good-naturedly shaking off the incident that made sports highlights segments across the country, the NBC "Today" show and sports sections in newspapers across the country.

While Vicki, his younger brother Sean, his aunt Flo Sgro and his girlfriend, Alicia Angelastro, awaited the start of last night's series finale against the Cleveland Indians, Alicia held a copy of the day's New York Times. That newspaper, too, showed center fielder Dustin Mohr grabbing the Jhonny Peralta fly ball that amazed and amused fans across the country.

"That was definitely one of the stranger (plays)," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

"I was kind of laughing at first," said Mohr. "Then I saw him down, so I thought he might be hurt. I just tried to see to it that he was all right."

Although the play probably will make a sports blooper video or two before it's all said and done, there was nothing funny about what could have resulted. And forget that the score was tied at the time.

As Michael explained, the ball glanced off his forehead, just above the left eyebrow. It really could have produced serious consequences.

"They were concerned, just to see if I chipped any bones in my eye," he said, pointing to the spot where he was struck. "It was nothing serious. It was just a little sore today, but the swelling's gone down a lot. I'm very lucky that I had sunglasses on, or it could have been a lot worse."

"When the ball was coming down I saw it hit him," his mother said. "And immediately his entire body just fell. So I could see that he was initially knocked out, and at that point I didn't know how bad."

Fearing the possibility of serious injury, Vicki kept close watch through binoculars.

"Then he got up on all fours," Mrs. Ryan said. "When they got him up, I could see that his head was swollen. So I was very happy that they all came to his aid."

"We were just worried that he wasn't getting back up," said Angelastro, who hails from Homer City. "But everything was handled very well, and everyone's been really supportive."

X-rays taken at the stadium revealed no serious damage.

Ryan, who had already driven in a run with a single in two at-bats, was playing right field with the score tied 3-3 in the home half of the seventh inning. Peralta lifted a leadoff fly ball to right center field that drew the attention of Ryan and Mohr. Ryan, who struggled with the high sky throughout the day, lost track of the ball as it neared him.

"I tried to be somewhere near him in case he couldn't catch it," Mohr said. "I wasn't exactly what I had in mind. It was a heads-up play on his part."

"I had about four balls hit out to me," Ryan said. "The first three I lost them, the sun was right there the whole game. I lost them, and then right at the last second the ball would come out of the sun so I had time to react.

"Then the fourth one I saw it off the bat well, and once I started taking an angle toward the gap I lost it. I just wanted to go to the spot where I thought the ball would drop. And I didn't see it, and I didn't see it. And I felt something hit me in the head and I went down. Luckily, Dustin was there to catch it."

Luckily for the Twins, indeed. Cleveland, remember, was where Canseco once misplayed a fly ball off his head over the fence for a home run at the old Municipal Stadium.

"It could have bounced over the fence for a home run," Ryan said. "Or he could have gotten extra bases and cost us a run."

"We were lucky," said Gardenhire. "But that's fine. He made the ESPN highlights and national highlights. He got a little national airtime."

A little national airtime, huh? Vicki Ryan learned in a telephone conversation with her son, Gary, who lives in Richmond, Va., that "Today" co-anchors Katie Couric and Matt Lauer spoke at length about the play as it was shown and expressed their hope that Michael would be fine.

"We were shocked," Vicki said. "And I've had people calling from Florida saying that they saw it on their local news. And I said, 'Oh well, that's one way to get on 'SportsCenter.' "

Gardenhire said he has no problem putting the 26-year-old in the outfield.

"He'd been doing fine out there, other than getting hit in the head yesterday," he said. "He's able to move around. He's an aggressive kid, which we like. He's been playing fine in the outfield. That's a bonus because (previously in his career) he was a little shaky."

The catch also was unique in Mohr's perspective.

"That was the weirdest conditions I've ever caught a fly ball under," he said.

Ryan's gaffe was initially witnessed by a crowd of more 19,452 that included numerous family members and friends from Indiana County.

As for the man from Chicago, Vicki said he started to show genuine concern and hope that her son would be OK.

"He was very nice," she said. "He finished by saying, 'Well, this is a serious time. I hope he's going to be fine.' "