Why throw at a batter when you failed to do your job?
Over the weekend the White Sox's D.J. Carrasco takes four attempts to hit Kansas City’s Miguel Olivo, and a brawl erupts. In the aftermath manager Ozzie Guillen explains that Olivo wasn't hit on purpose, and he should know because he has ordered player hit before, and there was no reason to hi Olivo. I'll by that, but his further explanation is what really gets me going.
Quoting Mr. Guillen: "When Teahen bunts up by six runs, I didn’t even hit him. I should’ve,” Guillen said. “To teach him a lesson how to play baseball. And I didn’t. That’s why I want Major League Baseball to look at this thing the right way. … Everybody knows in the dugout Teahen did the wrong thing.”
Is that right? In 30% of their games this year the White Sox have scored over 6 runs in a game. Just the day before they scored 4 runs in the 8th inning, eventually coming up short. They were down 5 runs at the time. Would Ozzie have told his players to stop scoring runs in the 8th of that game if the Royals had started coasting with a big lead? OF COURSE NOT!!! It was up to the Royals to stop them. Baseball is the only major sport that doesn't have a clock. Teams have scored 5, 6, 7, even more runs in the 9th inning to come from behind to win a game. Given Guillen's logic, should a team stop scoring when they reach 6 runs in an inning? Is that rubbing it in? OF COURSE NOT!! It is up to the pitcher and defense to keep the opposing team from scoring, every inning every batter. If they can't do that, then they have no right to complain.
In my opinion viewing the video, Olivo wasn't thrown at. Carrasco was just pitching terribly. If a batter charged a pitcher every time he threw a lousy pitch, the Detroit Tiger relief pitchers would have to be wearing a boxing glove instead of a fielders mitt when they took the mound. Bad pitches happen. Even the suppossed soft stuff is coming at the batter at better than 80 mph so its going to hurt, but its no reason to rush the mound if its not done intentionally. On the other hand, I don't agree that only throwing at the head is wrong. A career can be ended by a broken wrist, ankle, elbow, or knee too.
It may be my imagination, but most of these bean ball incidents happen in the American League. The safety of not coming to the plate insulates pitchers from any sort of retribution short of rushing the mound. Now, if a batter hits a home run, and poses or makes a spectacle of himself rounding the bases, he should expect a shot in the ribs his next at bat, and umpires should let it go. That is, of course except in the case of a game ending ( I hate the ESPN made up "walk off" designation) hit. If a pitcher doesn't want to be shown up, DON'T THROW A BALL IN THE BATTERS WHEEL HOUSE!! Pitchers need to worry more about keeping batters from getting the hit in the first place, and less about retaliating after the fact.
