I was going to write about the Dodger fight anyway so it is interesting that it was brought up in the previous blog. Please read the previous blog to see my comment on Benghazi attack.
It is a pet peeve of mine that baseball teams retaliate whenever one of their batters get hit. Last week Dodger phenom Puig was hit by Arizona pitcher Kennedy. I don't think it was intentional as Puig was killing outside fastballs but had missed a couple of inside ones. So naturally Kennedy is going to throw inside. The next inning Dodger Greinke hits an Arizona batter in the back. There was no need to retaliate as the first one was not intentional. The umpire gave both sides a warning. The stupid thing for Greinke is that the score is tie. There was no reason to retaliate and let the go ahead run to get on base. The next inning Kennedy was even more stupid. He hits Greinke on the head and rightly gets tossed and subsequently suspended. Why do that when you know you are going to get tossed? In a tie game, you are going to let a pitcher get on base to represent the go ahead run? Is it more important to retaliate than to win a ball game? To me this code of conduct in baseball is absolutely ridiculous. You rather lose the game than not retaliate? These people ought to have their heads examined.
The benches of course empty after Greinke gets hit. McGwire, Mr. Steroid, acts like he is still on steroids, challenges Gibson and Matt Williams. These old guys should grow up and try to stop the young guys from fighting, not add more fuel to fire. Greinke already had been out several weeks after breaking his left collar bone when an idiot charged the mound. Why are these people risking injuries for some stupid code for "protecting" your teammates?
They should have automatic ejection whenever a pitcher hits a batter on the head. In hockey a high stick causing bleeding in the head is a five minute major, regardless of intent. I think you can control a fast ball better than a stick when the hockey player is jostling on the boards. You can go inside with a pitch but not to the head. A batter who rushes the mound after getting hit will get an automatic 10 game suspension. Players leaving bench gets automatically rejected, like in basketball. Coaches who rush out like McGwire will be put into a nursing home. I think these rules will stop this nonsense.
Monday, June 17, 2013
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I actually thought that Greinke should have been tossed when he allegedly retaliated. I guess the umpire thought he didn't mean to do it, but if he would have been tossed, you'd probably not see Kennedy hit anyone later (though maybe Kennedy has poor accuracy).
ReplyDeleteWe'll never know what the intentions were for both pitchers. I am assuming that these are instructions from the bench. I just can't imagine Gibson or Mattingly calling for any retaliation.
Now, I must admit that I enjoy the fighting in baseball and hockey. I just don't think that beaning someone in the head should be allowed.
Now, as to respond to your thought that McGwire and the other old guys, I think they probably figured it would be less painful to clutch and hold and push someone their own age! Now, did you see in the replays where Trammell was thrown to the ground by, I think, McGwire?
Personally, I think McGwire should be banned from baseball. What he and Bonds and Sosa did to the sport is just as bad as what Pete Rose did.
You are right about the penalty for leaving the bench. If they had this rule in place, you'd get less bench clearing. Though with the cash these guys make, the penalty better be huge. Did you notice that the bullpens came out like gangs? Pretty hilarious to those not involved, like me.
Baseball is frustrating to me. I know you like to watch it and do so regularly. But it's all the unwritten rules and just plain weird rules that make me shake my head. Also, I am not a fan of Bud Selig at all. He and Gary Bettman are the worst commissioners I've seen in my life. How the Houston Astros are in the American League and the Milwaukee Braves are in the National League makes me angry.
By the way, I came across this quiz that I thought you might like to try. I have not tried it myself. I fell asleep reading the first question.
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/quiz/_/id/4979/do-know-mlb-rules#top
-LBOAYM
Greinke was not tossed because it is an unwritten rule (I know you like this) that a warning should be given first to both teams before the ump tosses the next pitcher who hits a batter. There was no warning after Kennedy hit Puig. Also, Greinke didn't aim for the head but hit the batter on the back. Kennedy's second plunk was obviously intention. Who needs to throw high and tight to a pitcher? It is a tie game, throw it down the middle! Who knows who called the pitches but the problem is the unwritten rule (here we go again) that you "protect" your teammates. Again that is so stupid.
ReplyDeleteI missed Trammel getting thrown. At least it is not like that Don Zimmer getting thrown by a player a few years ago or Jeff Van Gundy grabbing an opposing player's legs in a bench clearing brawl!
I believe that the important penalty for leaving the bench is automatic rejection. Since you need 9 guys to play and maybe several pitchers, not many players can afford to leave the bench without losing the game. You may say that this gives the team out on the field an advantage since 9 of their players are out there already whereas at most the batting team has 4. But most of the time it is the team that got hit who rush out first, so this will cut way down the incidences.
I will look up the quiz when I get a chance although it doesn't look very interesting if you fell asleep reading the first question.
Did you see Tahiti made the Confederation cup representing Oceania? New Zealand got over confident against New Caledonia and lost in the semis and Tahiti then beat New Caledonia. Tahiti lost 6-1 to Nigeria and they are celebrating because they did not expect to score. They lost 8-0 to Chile's under 20 team in a warmup game. This could get really ugly when they play Spain.
My beef with FIFA is that they moved Australia to Asia in regional competition. This leaves New Zealand winning easily in Oceania most of the time. In World Cup qualifying they won't lose because they won't be so careless and it is not a 1 game and you are out in regional play. They will always get to play the 5th team from South America or Asia or 4th place team from North America to qualify. Australia, on the other hand, will get one of the Asia World Cup spots even though they are not Asians. So it is possible to see both Australia and New Zealand in a World Cup with only 3 Asian teams qualifying. This is grossly unfair.
The quiz was about baseball rules and I ended up getting 30%, which I guess if I am a player, isn't too bad!
ReplyDeleteI did not hear about FIFA moving Australia to the Asian group. That kind of upsets me, since it prevents teams that normally would not have made it in like Hong Kong or Taiwan or one of those traditonal Asian countries like Iran or Iraq or UAE!
Speaking of true Asian. Here's a link to a couple of videos about a play written by David Henry Hwang called Yellowface. The second video (which is really the second act) is better, but overall, I thought was well done. Check it out here:
http://blog.angryasianman.com/2013/06/yomyomf-presents-david-henry-hwangs.html
-LBOAYM