Here we go. It's been two months since
my last post on the topic, and we need to have this conversation
again.
Last night there was a little chaos in the Pirates-Diamondbacks game in Arizona. In the top of the seventh with the Pirates leading 5-0, Diamondbacks reliever Braden Shipley missed up and in on Pittsburgh's Josh Harrison, hitting him in the shoulder.
Shipley would miss up and in on the next batter as well, though this one just missed becoming a hit by pitch. Harrison would ultimately end up leaving the game, as noted in the above video. Now, if this were the end of it, I wouldn't have a post today. But this is how Pirates starter Joe Musgrove and manager Clint Hurdle decided to handle it.
In my repeated posts on this topic, this is the sort of thing I'm referring to when I talk about "thug baseball." The traditionalists, like Hurdle, defend this as "how baseball is supposed to be played" or some nonsense. But I don't care that it was a pitch that hit Owings in the butt; it was assault with a deadly weapon.
Now ultimately, the baseball gods seem to possibly be agreeing with my take on all of this, and karma won in the end.
The Diamondbacks would go on to win 9-5 with a four run rally in the eighth. After the game, Musgrove defended his decision with the above logic, never mind the fact that clearly, Shipley's pitch that hit Harrison was in no way intentional. Hurdle defended the actions as well.
Now while karma took care of this, if I were commissioner of Major League Baseball, I'd be taking heavy handed action on top of the loss the Pirates suffered last night. Musgrove would be facing a lengthy suspension, probably a minimum of ten games, and Clint Hurdle would be looking at possibly a longer amount of time off. This whole pretense of "protecting your teammates" is garbage. If Musgrove's pitch had been wild, it could have hit Owings in the back of the head instead of firmly on his rear. Just because the result ended up positive for the important parties involved doesn't justify Musgrove's actions or Hurdle's orders. This crap needs to stop, and unfortunately I don't think the karmic retribution is going to be enough to get rid of this neanderthal culture.
I keep saying it: eventually, someone is going to get seriously hurt by this outdated culture of thuggish retaliation. I'd like to see it gone before that happens. It would help if cavemen like Hurdle were gone to rid the game of their influence.
