Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Second thoughts
Cubs step up to the plate for Edwards
The good — and sometimes bad — thing about Twitter and social media is that it allows everyone to express themselves in a public forum. As an extension of that, the Twitterverse typically holds people accountable for tweets that are off base.
And sometimes that accountability is demanded by a Major League Baseball franchise.
If you’re going to call out the Chicago Cubs on Twitter, you better be prepared to get called out yourself.
That’s what happened to one unprepared Twitter troll Saturday. The Cubs response was so thorough, the Twitter user deleted his entire account.
The situation stemmed from relief pitcher Carl Edwards Jr.’s appearance during the Cubs’ 8-4 victory against the White Sox on Saturday afternoon. Edwards had a rare bad day on the hill, allowing three runs on a Matt Davidson home run in the eighth inning. The Twitter user in question then spouted off at the Cubs, suggesting that Edwards be demoted to Class AAA Iowa.
It wasn’t profane. It was just … odd. Especially given Edwards success out of the bullpen the past two seasons.
The Cubs saw the tweet, then called the dude out for having a really bad opinion.
“Carl Edwards Jr. went 14 straight outings without allowing a run and has only allowed runs in two outings this season,” the Cubs tweeted. “We look forward to the deletion of your tweet.”
We’re sure plenty of fans weighed in, too.
Shortly after, the tweet disappeared. When the Cubs checked back in on the conversation after the game, they found that the account was gone completely and pointed out the fact on Twitter.
When a team is holding a fan accountable, that’s a delicate process. With that said, the Cubs did quite well without being all that delicate.
Pulled a switcheroo
Francisco Lindor had a hard time telling his left from right on Sunday.
The Indians shortstop walked to home plate in the first inning wearing the wrong batting helmet.
A switch-hitter, Lindor was wearing the helmet he uses when he hits left-handed — with a protective flap on the right side. But he was facing Kansas City left-hander Danny Duffy and was going to hit right-handed.
Lindor realized the mistake, exchanged helmets with a bat boy and smiled when he returned to the batter’s box.
Lindor flied out but later extended his hitting streak to 14 games with two singles and a double. The Indians won 11-2.
Helmets with flaps on the side facing the pitcher have been mandatory for all batters since 1983.
She said it
From leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Nashville Predators’ forward Mike Fisher, who came out of retirement in February, says he’s retiring again now. ‘Good start,’ responded Brett Favre.”