Good morning, baseball fans!
As someone who covers the San Francisco Giants from the past most of the time, there are moments where you really have to laugh in the present. I wrote Wednesday’s BP before Tuesday night’s game. It was shortly after Rafael Devers was announced as NL Co-Player of the Week. So I was excited, and wanted to post a Devers appreciation post.
I was not able to watch Tuesday night’s game, so cut to the next day when I logged on to the MLB website to get the info for Wednesday’s
game thread, and I see that their top story was some kind of kerfuffle surrounding a Devers home run that caused benches to clear and people to get ejected. Then I switched over to our site to see my post. And friends, let me tell you, sometimes some of the best laughs you’ll have in life will be at your own expense.
Obviously that post was not about Devers’ home run from Tuesday’s game. But the timing, oh, that was exquisite.
Anyway, my point for today’s post is that baseball fights are stupid. Especially baseball fights spurred by the unwritten rules of not hurting pitchers’ feelings when they pitch poorly.
Could Devers have headed to the bases sooner? Maybe. To me, it looked like he wasn’t sure if it was going to go out or go foul. Maybe I’m being generous, but honestly unless he stood there doing a water color painting of the scene as a memento, a little appreciation for his own work is fine.
And if a pitcher has a problem with that, maybe they should pitch better next time, instead of throwing a temper tantrum and attempting to be the baseball police.
That goes for a pitcher from any team, I’ve said the exact same thing about many a Giants pitcher for doing something similarly dumb.
And it is dumb. All around. I’m sure the players think they look tough, but it’s quite the opposite. They run out there like extras in a Game of Thrones battle scene, then when they actually reach each other they’re like toddlers, flapping their hands at each other and shoving people around.
Not to mention the fact that these are professional athletes. Their physical health is kind of important to their ability to do their jobs. So rushing into a stupid fight risks not only their own physical health, but that of their teammates, coaches, and colleagues on other teams. Especially those with the maturity to enter the fray only to hold people back for their own good.
We’ve seen players get injured in on-field fights. We’ve seen players get ejected, suspended, etc. At the end of the day, is it ever worth it? As a fan, no.
Maybe it was worth it to Kyle Freeland’s pride? After the game, Freeland was quoted as having these sentiments: “‘You disrespected me. You showed me up and I don’t respect you doing that, coming into my ballpark and doing that.‘“
My dude, you’re a starting pitcher for a team that plays half of their games at Coors Field. If you can’t handle someone hitting a home run off of you at a home game, this is maybe not the job for you.
How do you feel about baseball fights?
