Umps Have Too Quick A Hook
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by user Alanschech
Preface this with the fact that I hate the New York Yankees. They cannot lose enough to suit me. That being said, I do not think a suspension was deserved in the Randy Johnson situation. Pitchers need to be allowed to defend their teammates.
I am not saying that I want to see players injured. I love the game, and I don't want to see marquee players leaving these games with injuries. What I am saying is that teams shouldn't have to be pushed around.
Years ago, retaliation for one of your teammates getting hit was a rite of passage in baseball. If you hit someone back in the days of people like Bob Gibson, you could safely assume that a player on your team was going to be hitting the dirt hard. Not hit necessarily, but dusted. Nowadays, both pitchers are warned the minute a pitch is off the plate inside, and that is it.
Two reasons that this is bad. First of all, the pitchers are entitled to the inside of the plate. When pitchers are afraid of warnings, all they do is nibble the outside corner for the entire game. That leads to missing the corner, and missing right over the plate and getting shelled. The umps have no right to take away the inside portion, the pitchers have as much right to use it as the hitters have to defend it.
Secondly, pitchers need to be able to stand up for their teammates. Even as recently as the 80s, you would see pitchers defending their players, pitching inside after it happened to one of their players. Take the Randy Johnson situation for example. Before he got ejected, Derek Jeter was dusted twice, and Jorge Posada was hit on the elbow before Johnson ever retaliated. In the olden days that would be OK, but now with quick warnings, he gets ejected and suspended. Pitchers have to stand up for their teammates, and as much as I hate the Yankees, kudos to Randy Johnson for doing it.
Date
Thu 06/15/06, 7:49 pm EST
