Toeing the Rubber

Let’s review some current Sox/Rays history before I tear into what a horse’s ass I think Joe Maddon is.

Over a week ago, Adrian Gonzalez, tired of the Boston media harping on his lack of power, told reporters he’d hit a home run in the second game of a two-game series against the Rays (the Red Sox had just lost the first game after a five-game winning streak).  Any idiot knew why he said that and that it had nothing to do with Tampa Bay.  Any idiot, that is, except David Price, Matt Moore and maybe all of the Rays, including some fans. David Price retweeted something a fan wrote to him in regard to Gonzalez’ comments:

Moore should put one right between his numbers.

Now I don’t always assume a retweet means you agree with the original tweet, but more often than not it does (and if it doesn’t it is usually followed up by a tweet explaining why you retweeted it).  So had I seen that when it was retweeted I probably wouldn’t have put much into it.  The tweet came up, though, when that night guess what happened?  Matt Moore hit Adrian Gonzalez.  Gee, what a coincidence.

Both the Red Sox and Rays shrugged it off after the game (but not before Felix Doubront hit Luke Scott.  Vicente Padilla also hit Rich Thompson later in the game and the Red Sox went on to win):

“If it was (intentional), it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in baseball,” Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. “But it might have been. I doubt it. If we have to resort to that kind of stupidity, maybe the game has passed me by.”

Rays manager Joe Maddon laughed and shrugged off the controversy.

“We’re not going to hit him because he said he’s going to hit a home run,” Maddon said with a chuckle. “I did read it. I was aware of it. That stuff doesn’t bother me in the least. In baseball, I don’t think bulletin board stuff carries a whole lot of weight. The game is played emotionally, but at the same time you have to be passive in some ways to really be able to control yourself. It’s not like football where you’re going to go out and try to hurt somebody.”

The Red Sox were leery of accusing Moore of anything, though outfielder Marlon Byrd did acknowledge, “It’s one of those things you put in the back of your mind.”

Gonzalez didn’t seem particularly worked up.

“I don’t think he’d want to load the bases in that situation,” he said. “If he did, thank you, because we won the game. You never know what could have happened. Like Bobby said, if that was their intent, hey, keep doing it. It didn’t hurt.”

Keep Marlon Byrd’s comment about it being in the back of your mind in the back of YOUR mind because I’m going to come back to it.

So the Rays hit a player after one of their pitchers retweets a comment that they SHOULD hit him but no one sees any intent, the Red Sox win a game and all goes on as normal in baseball. Until last night when in the sixth inning Burke Badenhop took the mound for the Rays after Howell walked Saltalamacchia and Daniel Nava. He gives up a single and two sacrifices that score two runs and then hits Dustin Pedroia (to pitch to David Ortiz who flew out to end the inning). Doesn’t seem like intent. Why put Pedroia on to pitch to Papi in that situation? But with the history these teams have, especially this month, you know hitting one of their best players won’t sit with the Red Sox and it didn’t.

Poor Franklin Morales. All he wanted to do was go pitch a clean inning. Instead he ends up hitting Luke Scott and starting one of the stranger baseball brouhahas in recent memory.

Morales claims he missed his spot. I’m not naive and I think he nailed his spot.  So let’s go with the whole idea that this is what happens in baseball games when you throw at our guys and ignore Franklin’s words for the sake of this post.

More often than not, when a team decides to hit an opposing team’s player you know they’re going to go after one of the really good players, right?  As Pedro Martinez so eloquently put it “Who is Karim Garcia?”  You aren’t going after the Karim Garcia’s of the world, you’re going after the Alex Rodriguezes. There are always exceptions, though. Remember Eric Byrnes?  He got thrown at a bit. He wasn’t exactly a marquee player…he was a jerk. Teams are going to pick the jerk to throw at if they have the opportunity. (Slappy gives us two for one: He’s an exceptional player AND a jerk. Whee!)

Luke Scott is a jerk. I feel very comfortable writing that because, well, he is. This is a man who believes the President of the United States isn’t an American citizen. This is a man who throws bananas in his Dominican teammate’s helmet to indicate he’s acting like a savage and claims he isn’t racist because he has black friends.  And as a Red Sox fan I remember that this is a man who, on more than one occasion, has insulted the fan base I belong to and the ballpark that I love.  I will say it again: Luke Scott is a jerk and every time he comes to bat, regardless of what team the Rays are playing, I hope he gets plunked. Every time, regardless of the score or who is on base. EVERY TIME.  I’m not necessarily proud of this but it’s true. I hope he ends the season covered from the neck down in baseball shaped bruises.  To be clear, I don’t like Luke Scott.

And I used to like Joe Maddon…but not any more. Any respect I had for him walked out the door with his comments last night. Everyone is responsible but him and his team.  He blamed the Red Sox for “starting it” and promised the Rays would “finish it”. He used all kinds of adjectives to describe the situation and the people “who called it”…basically calling out Bobby Valentine (and the rest of the coaching staff?).  What made this scrum unique is that it seemed the coaches were more fired up than the players.  Joe Maddon acting like the Rays have never thrown at a pitcher (he’s fond of using the “they’re young and don’t have good control” excuse) is absolutely ridiculous. And his righteous indignation in the post-game comments as well as his Twitter whining makes him look like a whining crybaby instead of a Major League Baseball manager.

Back to Marlon Byrd’s comment.  Regardless of what got said last night (Gonzalez said they didn’t discuss last week before this series), you know that players remember things just as well as the fans do when it comes to something like one of their teammates getting hit. Adrian Gonzalez might be the Boston media whipping boy but by all accounts he seems a fairly popular guy in the clubhouse. No one who took that field last night didn’t remember that he got hit last week for trying to fire himself up to the Boston sports media. Joe Maddon can try to have it both ways by insulting the Red Sox but saying he wasn’t really going after the PLAYERS because “the hit” wasn’t ordered by them, but he knows nothing. WE know nothing. Maybe Bobby Valentine has a great read on the fans and knew hitting Luke Scott would be welcomed by most of them? Maybe they choose to throw at Scott because he’s a horse’s ass and, for the most part, the rest of the players on the Rays are relatively likable? MAYBE Franklin Morales really did miss his spot?

Bobby Valentine suggested that the Fenway’s ghosts made that ball hit the player who insulted the park.  I got a kick out of that. Of course there are those who are using his comments to suggest they are proof that he called for Luke Scott to be hit. Let me say this: I don’t care. There are 30 MLB teams and I believe all 30 of those managers have called for a player to be hit at one time or another. Not only is Joe Madden a sore sport but I believe he’s a liar when he says he’s never done that.

As an aside, apparently a fan yelled something about David Price that BJ Upton took exception to and Upton went at it with said fan (the fan was removed from Fenway Park by security).  When asked about it after the game Upton said he didn’t know if something racist was said. I’m still trying to figure out how that is possible. Before the rest of baseball starts on the “Boston is so racist” crap, I submit that if something racist was said you would be reading about it all over the Internet today.  I’ll be disappointed if I’m wrong but don’t start throwing out the racist crap if you have nothing to back it up.

It would have been nice for the Sox to top the night off with a win, but there are two more games to get their revenge. I’m hoping they only do it on the field and we get no more fisticuffs this weekend.  I don’t think I can bear three days of Joe Maddon’s holier than thou act.