Frustrations boiling over to end spring
With just under 10 days left until the start of baseball’s regular season, both fans and players are more than ready for things to get underway as spring training continues.
Although most players are ready and in game shape, they still have to go through the motions of playing in pretend games for at least another week.
This has taken a toll on some players, including New York Mets infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, who on Thursday was pretty much ejected from a game while running to first base.
In the fourth inning of the Mets game with the Washington Nationals, Cabrera stepped in against Erick Fedde and attempted to call for time on a 3-0 pitch, but it wasn’t granted by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Fedde continued with his windup and threw a strike.
At that point, Cabrera briefly exchanged words with Hernandez. While it didn’t appear he said anything inappropriate, it was clear he was upset Hernandez didn’t grant him time.
On the next pitch, Cabrera ripped a single to right field. As he started running down to first, he turned his head and glanced back at Hernandez for a brief second. Hernandez readied his arm as if to eject Cabrera, but since Cabrera wasn’t looking at him, Hernandez didn’t pull the trigger.
Cabrera eventually reached first base, turned to look at Hernandez and was ejected. Cabrera did say something to Hernandez, although it’s unclear whether he was tossed before or after that happened.
With that, Cabrera embarked on a slow, lengthy walk from the dugout to the outfield fence. He took his time doing so, silently letting Hernandez know he was fed up with the situation.