Big Babies

The timing is perfect. Kids are starting fall sports, lots of kids for the very first time, and the guys who get paid to play are losing their minds.

I have written before about conversations with my baseball-obsessed son regarding his favorite players making bad choices. In his five year old world conversations about making bad choices should involve regular vs chocolate milk or whether kicking his sister is a good idea. They should not include performance enhancing drugs or fighting.

Nyger Morgan, formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is one of my son’s favorite non-Pirates. He’s had a few issues of late, culminating in a brawl he started last night. Go read what the Washington Post has to say about the incident.  I’ll wait.

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There are so many things wrong here and so many people, grown up people who should know better,  I don’t know where to begin.

• Umpires The WaPo makes no mention of the umpires issuing a warning to the pitcher or benches after Morgan was hit. Umpire teams work a whole series so they had to know the hit was retaliatory. It’s their job to keep the kids grownups playing nice, warning and ejecting as necessary. Fail.
• Managers The manager of the Nationals got himself quoted saying he was willing to order a payback hit. What??? A manager, an authority figure, is willing to order his pitcher to hit an opposing player with a ball traveling at 90 miles per hour. Has everyone forgotten Tony Conigliaro? He’s the reason batting helmets have that handy ear flap. Fail.
• Players There’s plenty of blame on both sides here. WaPo sure makes Nyjer look rosy in this piece but he still charged the mound and escalated the situation. I don’t think he forgot he wasn’t playing hockey anymore. He got clotheslined but he started the fight. As for the Marlins, if a guy steals two bases on you it probably means your fielding sucks. If it was revenge, at least it was non-violent. Get over yourselves and grow up.

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ClumberKim usually confines her ranting to her own blog.