We have to hit Jeter tomorrow if we get a good lead.

[The Wedge]

Also there is the fact that Sabathia did not do anything wrong. Picking a fight now, while we are tied atop the standings, is silly.

Getting so vehement about wanting a foul ball when the batter is obviously injured is pretty wrong. But that's just me.

[bluedog]

I was listening to the game on the radio on the way home last night and Angel was talking about the heaps of praise Sabathia was giving to the Orioles. Reminded him of the Indian teams he used to be a part of in the mid-2000s. He didn't seem very douchy. Also, he is supposed to argue for a strike, he is supposed to care about the outcome for his team. Drilling Jeter? Really, that is what you want to be known for. This was an accident. It is not the end of our season. We move forward today with another win led by the big, harry man Mark Reynolds.

Many players say what a great guy Sabathia is and that he's one of the hardest competitors in the game, but also one of the nicest guys around. I mentioned that Rick Sutcliffe said this exact thing on an interview about the O's / Yanks series on Friday.

All these people spouting venom about CC and calling him fat jokes and wanting to retaliate by ending someone's season because they think CC was headhunting Nick on orders from Girardi are absolutely the worst kind of sports fan. They have no idea what they are talking about, and are actually fabricating BS to try and create drama where none exists, when their real focus should be on hoping Nick gets well quickly and that the team continues to win in the interim. This kind of thinking and indiscriminate hatred is the reason opposing fans get beaten into a coma in the parking lot after a game.

It's shocking and sad that they take a baseball game turn it into some kind of requirement for vengeance in order to "protect our territory" and use that as justification for intentionally doing bodily harm to another human being. Frankly it's shocking that they not only propose this crap, but see fit to defend it an acceptable course of action as aggressively as they do.

Most everyone here understands that plunking a guy in retaliation for the other team clearly throwing at one of your guys is a part of baseball's past. But all you have to do is see what happened to Brandon McCarthy to see how dangerous baseball can be - life threatening even. Accidents happen in the game when you pitch inside, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. But to intentionally headhunt with the intent to do harm or to wish players injury goes WAY beyond what's acceptable. These people are children with a horribly stunted perception of what's right and wrong.

[The Wedge]

Many players say what a great guy Sabathia is and that he's one of the hardest competitors in the game, but also one of the nicest guys around. I mentioned that Rick Sutcliffe said this exact thing on an interview about the O's / Yanks series on Friday.

All these people spouting venom about CC and calling him fat jokes and wanting to retaliate by ending someone's season because they think CC was headhunting Nick on orders from Girardi are absolutely the worst kind of sports fan. They have no idea what they are talking about, and are actually fabricating BS to try and create drama where none exists, when their real focus should be on hoping Nick gets well quickly and that the team continues to win in the interim. This kind of thinking and indiscriminate hatred is the reason opposing fans get beaten into a coma in the parking lot after a game.

It's shocking and sad that they take a baseball game turn it into some kind of requirement for vengeance in order to "protect our territory" and use that as justification for intentionally doing bodily harm to another human being. Frankly it's shocking that they not only propose this crap, but see fit to defend it an acceptable course of action as aggressively as they do.

Most everyone here understands that plunking a guy in retaliation for the other team clearly throwing at one of your guys is a part of baseball's past. But all you have to do is see what happened to Brandon McCarthy to see how dangerous baseball can be - life threatening even. Accidents happen in the game when you pitch inside, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. But to intentionally headhunt with the intent to do harm or to wish players injury goes WAY beyond what's acceptable. These people are children with a horribly stunted perception of what's right and wrong.

It's bringing the football mentality on to the baseball field. At least that's how I see it.

[DrungoHazewood]

Getting so vehement about wanting a foul ball when the batter is obviously injured is pretty wrong. But that's just me.

Yea, that's the only thing I take issue with. But who's to say I wouldn't have done the same thing. I put that in the same "heat of the moment" category as the calls for headhunting here.

[DrungoHazewood]

Many players say what a great guy Sabathia is and that he's one of the hardest competitors in the game, but also one of the nicest guys around. I mentioned that Rick Sutcliffe said this exact thing on an interview about the O's / Yanks series on Friday.

All these people spouting venom about CC and calling him fat jokes and wanting to retaliate by ending someone's season because they think CC was headhunting Nick on orders from Girardi are absolutely the worst kind of sports fan. They have no idea what they are talking about, and are actually fabricating BS to try and create drama where none exists, when their real focus should be on hoping Nick gets well quickly and that the team continues to win in the interim. This kind of thinking and indiscriminate hatred is the reason opposing fans get beaten into a coma in the parking lot after a game.

It's shocking and sad that they take a baseball game turn it into some kind of requirement for vengeance in order to "protect our territory" and use that as justification for intentionally doing bodily harm to another human being. Frankly it's shocking that they not only propose this crap, but see fit to defend it an acceptable course of action as aggressively as they do.

Most everyone here understands that plunking a guy in retaliation for the other team clearly throwing at one of your guys is a part of baseball's past. But all you have to do is see what happened to Brandon McCarthy to see how dangerous baseball can be - life threatening even. Accidents happen in the game when you pitch inside, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. But to intentionally headhunt with the intent to do harm or to wish players injury goes WAY beyond what's acceptable. These people are children with a horribly stunted perception of what's right and wrong.

I see it as progress that cooler heads now usually prevail, and that vigilante justice is the exception more than the norm. When these so-called unwritten rules of baseball were being established it was also the unwritten rules of much of society to take someone who was suspected of insulting a woman and go get a mob and hang them from a tree. I think we take for granted that we live in what's probably the least violent time in human history.

[bluedog]

Not only that, but it's largely hyperbole. There's this idea that guys like Drysdale and Gibson hit multiple batters a game just to keep 'em in line. Jeremy Guthrie has hit more batters per inning than Don Drysdale. In Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA season he hit 7 of the 1161 batters he faced. He had almost twice as many shutouts as hit batsmen.

Agreed. And I'm certain that Guts never hit anyone with the goal of doing them lasting injury. He's pitching the game to win, sometimes that means throwing inside and accidents happen (just like what happened to Nick last nite). These guys are confusing pitching inside with using pitches as a threat of bodily harm in order to cause fear in the batter. Drysdale and Gibson (and Seaver and Palmer and hundreds of other guys) would throw message pitches from time to time to get guys off the plate.

But they weren't some kind of romanticized outlaw putting fear into opposing hitters through the threat of injury like this guy seems to be suggesting.

[DrungoHazewood]

Agreed. And I'm certain that Guts never hit anyone with the goal of doing them lasting injury. He's pitching the game to win, sometimes that means throwing inside and accidents happen (just like what happened to Nick last nite). These guys are confusing pitching inside with using pitches as a threat of bodily harm in order to cause fear in the batter. Drysdale and Gibson (and Seaver and Palmer and hundreds of other guys) would throw message pitches from time to time to get guys off the plate.

But they weren't some kind of romanticized outlaw putting fear into opposing hitters through the threat of injury like this guy seems to be suggesting.

I'm sure it didn't help that Drysdale was a color guy on ABC for years after he retired, and I'm sure the farther he got from his playing career the more embellished his stories got. Plenty of guys my age who never saw him play, just as a TV announcer. Kind of like my only memories of Brooks are making spectacular diving catches on highlights, with no record of his 263 errors for counterbalance.

[bluedog]

I see it as progress that cooler heads now usually prevail, and that vigilante justice is the exception more than the norm. When these so-called unwritten rules of baseball were being established it was also the unwritten rules of much of society to take someone who was suspected of insulting a woman and go get a mob and hang them from a tree. I think we take for granted that we live in what's probably the least violent time in human history.

Well said. Society has rules that we've all jointly put in place to prevent people from exacting vengeance for every perceived slight. It's laughable to see people talking about vigilantism like it's a part of how they roll in every day life. This kind of stuff gets you thrown in jail in the real world. It's just not realistic.

I think the anonymity of the internet also contributes a great deal to this. No normal person would talk like these guys do in public. This is all false machismo that stems from being safely hidden behind a computer screen.

[Dannyboy]

I will say this. Even though I don't think last night was intentional, this is not the first time CC has plunked Markakis. Last year he did it in a series here, and that time it was clearly intentional. So, there is some history there.

[sfosfan]

Way I see it, we got a gift call to win the game. That works fine for me. No need to plunk anybody, especially when it clearly was not intentional.

sfosfan

[bluedog]

I'm sure it didn't help that Drysdale was a color guy on ABC for years after he retired, and I'm sure the farther he got from his playing career the more embellished his stories got. Plenty of guys my age who never saw him play, just as a TV announcer. Kind of like my only memories of Brooks are making spectacular diving catches on highlights, with no record of his 263 errors for counterbalance.

The media has a vested interest in sensationalizing everything, so the embellishment of stories like you suggest seems very likely to me. The past is almost always romanticized to a lesser or greater degree, especially with our heroes and nemesis. Logical people recognize this and take many of those stories as apocryphal, even as we enjoy them through a certain willing suspension of disbelief.

But I'd be willing to bet several of my remaining dollars that Drysdale would be horrified to think that his legacy was being used by people as ammunition in support of an argument for intentionally injuring other team's players. I'm sure Roy could weigh in on this as unlike people throwing around Drysdale's name, Roy probably met the man and spoke with him on numerous occasions, and could tell us just how much of a dangerous menace to society he really was.

[crowmst3k!]

Let's just beat them again, and take the season series. Let's do it fair and square. Don't go out there and lose your focus on some petty "revenge". We're better than that.

[jjnono]

I could be wrong, but I have yet to read of any stated contrition from Sabathia regarding breaking Markakis's thumb. If he has so much respect for the O's, how come he an't bring himself to say something along the lines of "It's too bad Nick got hurt. I have a lot of respect for Nick." No admission of intent or non-intent (which I don't think he should be forced to prove), but simply a tip of the cap to a bad outcome for our team. In fact, the NY Times doesn't even mention this in the game article, but buries Nick getting hurt in the Game Notes in the end. That's not a coincidence.

[BRobinsonfan]

When I was a kid a guy backed into my parents' station wagon at a gas station. The only way he learned his lesson that day was when Dad backed up, got a good running start, and smashed into his car at 50 mph. It's the unwritten rules of the road.

Yeah... you've "got to defend your turf." He'll know next time not to accidently back into your Dad's car.

[bluedog]

I could be wrong, but I have yet to read of any stated contrition from Sabathia regarding breaking Markakis's thumb. If he has so much respect for the O's, how come he an't bring himself to say something along the lines of "It's too bad Nick got hurt. I have a lot of respect for Nick." No admission of intent or non-intent (which I don't think he should be forced to prove), but simply a tip of the cap to a bad outcome for our team. In fact, the NY Times doesn't even mention this in the game article, but buries Nick getting hurt in the Game Notes in the end. That's not a coincidence.

He said this on an interview on YES from what one of my friends in NY who's a Yankee fan just told me. No link to a video that I can dig up yet. Sabathia apparently made all the appropriate noises about never wanting to injure another player and what a great player Nick is, yada yada yada.

The press isn't talking about it because "Sabathia hopes Markakis is okay" isn't worthy of a headline to them. You want to blame people for not addressing Nick's injury, blame the press.