Reckoning

Scott Cousins is a reserve outfielder for the Florida Marlins who’s hitting something under the Mendoza line—or, as we baseball folks say, he’s still on the Interstate.  In other words, in Major League Baseball he’s no big deal.

Buster Posey is the cleanup hitter, starting catcher, and reigning rookie of the year for the San Francisco Giants.  In other words, he’s the franchise.  He’s a very big deal.

So, when Cousins elected to take out Posey in an unnecessary home plate collision (unnecessary because Cousin’s path to the plate was clear), No Big Deal ended the season of Very Big Deal.  With a broken leg and torn ligaments. 

A rule change to prevent this sort of unnecessary contact has been proposed—Simply require base runners to slide into home like they’re required to slide into every other base where contact might be expected.  Fine.  Frankly, I’m not on the “change the rules” bandwagon.

What Cousins did is a maneuver that’s specifically intended to injure the opposing player.  Not illegal, but very dirty baseball. 

Here’s the deal:  Cousins will not likely play against the Giants the next time the Marlins and the Giants meet.  We know with certainty that Posey won’t.  But there has to be a cost to the Marlins for using the tactic they used.  The next time the Giants and the Marlins meet, the Giants should instruct their pitcher to throw his best fastball directly at the face of the Marlin’s cleanup hitter.  With the intent of ending that player’s season.

It’s not revenge that is necessary here. It’s the reckoning.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Very Simple Request

In the late 1970s (that would be during the Carter administration and THAT gas crisis), I drove a Datsun 1200 for a while.   It was a good, small, simple car, and I could afford it even though I had virtually no money. As I recall, it had 12 or 13 inch wheels, no power anything, a four cylinder engine, and a four speed manual transmission.   It was light weight with no amenities.   None.   It had an AM only radio and a tinny little speaker.   No air conditioning either—can you imagine?   No AIR??   On the freeway, when larger cars would pass, the jet wash would buffet the car slightly after the larger car passed.   It was orange, and it routinely got 35 to 50 MPG.   40 to 50 on the freeway and 35 to 45 around town.   When the tires wore out, it was about as expensive as putting new tires on your bicycle.   If it needed brakes, it was about as expensive as putting brakes on your bicycle.   Did I just repeat myself? Here's w...
Read more

Karma

I see that the Marlin's Scott Cousins has been placed on the 15 day disabled list with a "lower back strain", and has been replaced on their active roster by Hanley Ramirez.  And that the Marlins are 3-18 since leaving San Francisco. Karma's a bitch.
Read more

For Love of the Game

  OK then. Baseball is finally over for my beloved Giants. Thank goodness. This leadership pair of Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler has created a baseball team and method that’s just pitiful. It’s painful to watch. And boring. Tedious. A struggle. Never knowing from day to day who is going to be on the club as players or where they might be in the batting order or what positions they might play. No stars. The way Kapler handles pitchers makes it even worse. One result of the inconstancy in player positions is that the Giants lead all of baseball in errors committed in an era of lower error rates in baseball. I can’t be the only one who sees the problem and the source of said problem. It’s no puzzle why the Giants find it impossible to sign truly first rate talent. I’m a big fan of Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford, but, other than that…….Who would want to subject themselves to that nonsense, anyhow? It’s no wonder that the ballpark is habitually empty, or nearly so. ...
Read more