Chicago Brings the Jerks to Town
| 12
|
by user ASwaff
Last year when the Chicago White Sox came to visit the Texas Rangers, it was pitcher Mark Buehrle accusing the Rangers of using a lighting system in center field to steal his signs.
This year, it was manager Ozzie Guillen acting in a way that, by most standards, is completely out of control. For Guillen, though, it’s pretty much just what we’ve come to expect. He had a little help from A.J. Pierzynski, who is also not new to acting like an idiot.
After Pierzynski got his in his first two at-bats on Wednesday night against the Rangers, Guillen was apparently looking for some retaliation. Let me just say that I have nothing wrong with retaliation. Someone hits your guy, you hit one of their guys, and you both call it even and move on. No problem with that. I think the new rules about warnings for hitting batters hurt the integrity of the game.
But what Guillen did Wednesday night, and then on Thursday morning, was inexcusable. He called on rookie Sean Tracey, making just his third Major League appearance, to redeem his teammate by hitting Hank Blalock. Instead, Tracey got Blalock to ground out.
Again, I am all for retaliation. But you know what? Maybe Tracey didn’t want to risk suspension. Maybe he didn’t want to risk a fine. And maybe he is ethically oppposed to intentionally throwing at the batter.
Whether or not these things were taken into consideration beforehand, we may never know. After humiliating the rookie on t.v. and in front of his teammates, Guillen demoted him to the Minor Leagues.
Now, I understand the need to have your players do what you request of them. If they won’t listen to you, what good are they? But Guillen could have handled that in a more diplomatic way. I know it’s foreign to him, but it’s something he’s going to have to get used to. He’s been a great manager, but players can only but up with so much berrating before they start to crumble mentally and emotionally.
Guillen could have addressed Tracey privately and warned him about ignoring him in the future. Certainly something like that deserves a warning before demotion to the Minor Leagues. But no - instead Guillen took the route that, for a couple of seasons, was called quirky by the press, but is starting to look completely loco.
To make things better, the victim of the beamings gave this gem of a quote after the game:
“I don’t know what the deal was. He had pretty good control and then he runs two first pitches in on me,” Pierzynski said. “Why did he do it? You’re going to have to ask him.”
It’s called pitching inside, A.J. Sometimes pitchers miss. Sometimes they miss badly. Perhaps it just wasn’t your night. Beaming people is nothing new for Padilla. With those two plunks, he has 8 on the season. That ties for for second-most in the American League. He is on pace to break his previous season-high of 16. He has also had another season where he hit 15 batters.
But no pitcher is perfect. Everyone hits batters sometimes. Greg Maddux, easily considered the best finesse pitcher of this generation, hit 14 batters in 1992 and 10 batters in 2000. He also had Padilla-like numbers in 2003 and 2004, when he hit 8 and 9 batters, respectively. Any pitcher can have a ball get away from him at any given time. Pierzynski doesn’t need to start stuff with that kind of comment.
Oh, and if A.J. was wondering who the A.L.’s leading hit-by-pitch pitcher is, it’s his teammate Javier Vazquez, who also happened to be on the mound that night.
Just a sincere plea to the White Sox - you guys are the World Champions. How about you start acting like World Champions instead of just world-class punks?
Date
Thu 06/15/06, 9:33 pm EST
