Intent to hurt is one of baseball’s worst traditions
A sadly misguided pitcher took the mound for the Miami Marlins against Atlanta on Wednesday, facing one of the game’s greatest young players to lead off the game, and the pitcher decided not to compete. He chose to maim.
With one cowardly pitch — Jose Ureña’s fastball taking dead aim at Ronald Acuña — one of baseball’s sorriest traditions took a hit, as well. Perhaps it will vanish completely in time. “Hit the guy” is not a proper response for a team’s failures.
Acuña is one of the game’s shining lights, just 20 years old and destined for greatness. He’s a good, earnest kid who plays with flair and panache. Leading up to Wednesday’s incident, he had led off the game with a home run three straight times against the Marlins, blasting an additional homer Tuesday. He was basically making his definitive statement as a superstar in the making.
Ureña threw a pitch that zeroed in on Acuña like a heatseeking missile. Acuna had nowhere to go. Considering that it struck him on the left elbow, he was fortunate not to have been sidelined for weeks. Ureña was tossed out of the game, his intent so clear, even Miami manager Don Mattingly took exception, telling reporters, “I don’t want to see this kid get hit. He’s going to be a great player for a long time. He’s beat us up, but this is not the way you want to handle that situation.”
Old-time ballplayers will tell you this was once common behavior, to “stick one in his ribs” to halt an opponent’s hot streak. Such hard-nosed pitchers as Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale believed exactly that, but it was not a universal stance. The great Sandy Koufax was terrified of one of his blazing
fastballs sending someone to the hospital, and he refused to throw at anyone intentionally.
In either case, past eras unfolded with minimum exposure. There was very little television, no avenue for national columnists to weigh in, no strident opinions on social media. Baseball is confronting a number of image problems these days, and idiotic frontier justice should not be among them. To hand Ureña a sixgame suspension — for someone who works only every five days — is profoundly weak, when a much stronger message should be sent.
What’s the answer for an exasperated pitcher? Compete. Mix it up. Show that hitter a little something he hasn’t seen from you. Make him think. You just might get him out, which is sort of the point. Feels a lot better than an early shower.
Out-of-control temper, Part 2: It was evident that Giants catcher Nick Hundley triggered Tuesday night’s skirmish at Dodger Stadium, deriding Yasiel Puig for snatching his bat out of the air, inches from Hundley’s mask, in disgust over not connecting with a pitch. This happens all the time, but words are just that. Puig foolishly decided to start a fight, and now he faces a two-game suspension.
The Dodgers have a big problem with their bullpen, having blown leads in seven straight games. They face another issue in Puig, who constantly stretches the boundaries of decorum and hurts his team in the process. If the Dodgers fail once again to win it all, he’s likely to find himself elsewhere.
Aug. 16 marked the passing of Aretha Franklin, Babe Ruth, Elvis Presley, blues legend Robert Johnson and the greatest of all sportswriters, Jim Murray. Perhaps we should rule out coincidence.