“It’s emotion you can’t control.”īut the Rangers didn’t buy that line of thinking. “I remember in the playoffs, it seems like every hit you get you’re getting fired up like that,” says Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer, who won a World Series with the Kansas City Royals in 2015. In such an important situation, many major leaguers had no problem with Bautista’s celebratory flip. Perhaps the most famous bat flip in recent memory was by Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, who drilled a tie-breaking three-run homer in Game 5 of the 2015 American League division series against the Texas Rangers. Hoskins’ home run trot took 34.2 seconds – the longest ever recorded by Statcast since tracking began in 2015.Įven worse than a slow trot around the bases is an emphatic flip of the bat after hitting a home run. He took Rhame deep and decided to “enjoy the moment.” The only recourse a hitter has is to do damage with the bat.Īfter nearly getting hit twice on April 23, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins faced New York Mets reliever Jacob Rhame again the next night. “Sometimes a message has to be sent, but I don’t think anybody ever wants to be a part of that,” Yates says. Occasionally, it means a fastball under the chin or into a batter’s backside. With the ball in their hands to begin every at-bat, pitchers have a tendency to take the administration of justice in their hands as well. And he let Muncy know about it before the Dodgers slugger had even reached first base.įortunately, the disagreement didn’t result in a beanball war, but merely a few choice words between the two (including Muncy’s memorable “get it out of the ocean” quip). The veteran San Francisco Giants left-hander thought Muncy was a bit too slow getting out of the batter’s box after hitting a Bumgarner fastball 426 feet into McCovey Cove. Case in point: Max Muncy’s home run off Madison Bumgarner on June 6. If you hit a homer, you’re expected to put your head down and circle the bases calmly and quickly.īut that doesn’t always happen. Veteran ballplayers will tell you respecting the game means not showing up your opponent. “There are certain times where you go overboard and some people are going to take offense, but I think everybody understands where the lines are.” “As a player, you have an idea what’s right and what’s wrong,” says San Diego Padres closer Kirby Yates. Unlike with the other two categories, if one team violates one of these unwritten rules, the other team frequently feels compelled to administer justice for “not respecting the game.” The third category is where most of the controversy surrounding baseball’s unwritten rules takes place. (Just ask former Orioles manager Buck Showalter how the 2016 AL wild card playoff game turned out.) Unwritten rules ‘gray area’ Sure, a manager would like to hold a team’s closer for a save situation after taking the lead … but if a game is tied in the ninth inning or later the importance of using a team’s best reliever to avoid losing may be even more important. With two outs, a runner is just about as likely to score from second on a hit as he would from third.Īs for the unwritten rule for closer usage, it may be time to revisit things. With a runner on second, you can score a run with a pair of productive outs. – Don’t use your closer in a tie game on the road.īoth certainly seem reasonable. – Never make the first or third out of the inning at third base. On the strategic side, two maxims stand out above the rest. Players often don’t like to change things when they’re on a hot streak or they make sure to change things when they’re in a slump. And it’s a common courtesy to tap the catcher’s shin guards in a hitter’s first at-bat of the game. Similarly, it’s bad luck to step on the foul line on your way to and from the dugout. Players in the dugout often go out of their way NOT to mention the number of hits while a no-no is in progress or talk to the pitcher who’s throwing it. “One of the golden unwritten rules (is) you don’t talk about a no-hitter when it’s going on,” says Baltimore Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini. Do something to upset the natural flow of the game and you risk the baseball gods showing their wrath. In the course of our unofficial research, unwritten rules tend to fall in one of three categories: superstitious, strategic and disrespectful.įor the most part, the superstitious rules exist because players are inherently worried about luck – both good and bad.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |