For as long as I can remember, there have been unwritten rules in the game of Baseball, rules that have certainly expanded over the years and now it seems like it has gotten to a point where it seems like every action invokes a reaction. In this article I want to go over a few cases that we witnessed in the past couple of weeks , and point out just how horrible the reactions of certain players have been.
First off, I’m all for protecting players, I have ZERO problem with pitchers hitting batters in most cases. Very rarely can I remember a pitcher hitting a batter just for the heck of it, there is for the most part, always a reason for a player being plunked. I have used the David Price / David Ortiz example many times before and I’ll use it again. If a player like Ortiz feels the need to take 2 and a half minutes to pimp out a home run in a playoff game, that should certainly warrant a pitcher plunking Ortiz in a future at bat. With that being said lets look at what happened with the Cardinals and Dodgers over the weekend. The Cardinals have twice plunked Dodger’s shortstop Hanley Ramirez in recent history, once in the playoffs last year and it happened again this past weekend. Clayton Kershaw stood up for his team by hitting the biggest man on the field, Matt Holliday calmly in the backside. Holliday looked out at Kershaw as if he knew it was coming, the umpires warned both benches and that was that. Action, reaction. I have ZERO issue with either side on this case. If you missed any of the theatrics over the weekend involving these two teams, here is a catch up video.
Now onto something I find very laughable, the case of Colby Lewis vs Colby Rasmus. I still have trouble believing this really happened, but I assure you it did. Here is some video evidence of the incident, please note Lewis and his piss poor reaction immediately after the Rasmus bunt. I mean really, you have got to be kidding me on this one. Colby Lewis got mad that a player hitting .223 laid down a bunt in the 5th inning while going against an extreme over shift? Is this real life? Of course it is , and this is the age of the pitcher thinking he has the right to dictate what a batter does. Hey Mr. Lewis, perhaps you should be more upset with your 1.89 WHIP Since the all star break than a player laying down a perfect bunt against your over shifted infield.
Colby Rasmus said after the game that he was trying to help his team and said he doesn’t worry about what the other side thinks. Good. If more batters would simply take what is given to them when a defense over shifts, perhaps they will stop running into so many shifts. Good for Rasmus for taking what the Rangers were giving to him and getting on base. I think most of the baseball community agrees that Lewis was clearly in the wrong here. If the game was out of hand in the later innings of course Lewis would have a gripe about it, but not in the 5th inning of a 2 run game, that is just flat out silly and stupid on the part of Colby Lewis.
Now lets move onto the Angels and Mariners antics involving fake bows and arrows and comeback victories. First let me set the stage so nobody thinks I am being biased towards a certain player. Fernando Rodney is and has always been on one of my favorite players in the league and I absolutely love his bow and arrow celebration that he has used in every game he has pitched in for the better part of 3 years running. I seriously doubt that Rodney shoots the imaginary arrow intending to upset the other team , and if anybody on another team gets upset at Rodney for doing that, well then that is on them. At least Rodney is not pimping out strikeouts and rounding the mound at a 2 minute clip like batters do on home runs, right David Ortiz?
Anyways, this past Sunday Rodney entered the game in the 8th for one of those 5 out saves and got the Mariners out of the 8th inning unharmed, he then preceded to shoot an arrow that was a little lower than his normal shoot the moon celebration. Angels players obviously took it very serious and preceded to walk Rodney off in the 9th and win the game. What came after was the best part of the day. Mike Trout and Albert Pujols both took out the imaginary bow and shot arrows in celebration.
Ok so we have a little emotion shown from both sides. And I’m sure people think I’m going to slam the Angels and stick up for Rodney. Well that is not the case, while I wish that Pujols and Trout would be original and come up with their own celebration I have no problem with players showing that emotion. I do have a problem with people saying that Rodney’s antics fueled the fire for the Angels to come back and win the game.
Wait, what? It takes a pitcher shooting an imaginary arrow for players getting paid millions of dollars to play baseball to get inspired enough to win a game? Shouldn’t Trout and Pujols be inspired enough knowing a division game between two playoff hopefuls hung in the balance? I find it very hard to believe that the antics of Rodney led to the game changing swing and ultimately the comeback for Trout, Pujols and the Angels. If the Angels need that type of fire to win a game, well that certainly tells us all a lot about the mindset of some players in the league.
Rules may be made to be broken, but unwritten rules are made to be followed. Don’t show up the other team without expecting it to come back on you. Don’t trot around the bases David Ortiz style if you don’t expect to get plunked on the next at bat, if you taunt after every save, don’t be surprised if it comes back to bite you at least once, and lastly for players like Colby Lewis, don’t ever think that you are bigger than the game. These unwritten rules will always enforce themselves in the long run.
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