I’ll be on the Herd today at 12:25 pm EDT, and on the FAN 590 in Toronto at around 5:40 pm.
I was at the Tigers/Red Sox game last night and had some things to say about the brawl and about Junichi Tazawa.
Also, this week’s chat is on Friday at 2 pm EDT, because I’ll be at Fenway tomorrow during my normal chat time.
Great job calling out Crawford, MLB needs to be aware of the issues he’s having. You even left out the call he miffed on the Drew SB the previous night. He’s created 3 run-ins over the course of 5 nights.
Keith and others:
I didnt get to see the Tigers game last night, but every clip I have seen of the brawl doesnt show the pitch that hit Youkilis. It just begins with Youkilis charging Porcello.
This morning a newswoman on MSNBC said that he was “beaned” by the pitch. Was this accurate? Was he hit in the head with the pitch? Where was he hit.
Keith, I saw from your twitter that you think Procello got a raw deal getting tossed. Is this based upon where he got hit, or based upon the fact that the rules seems to be that if you charge the mound both players get tossed no matter what.
BTW this might now make Yuniesky Betanourt useful – kind of like a suicide bomber, have him rush the mound against the other team’s starter to get to the bullpen early.
Disappointed that you reached your conclusion without considering the pitch thrown at Martinez the previous inning, because ignoring the vulnerability of your assessment is not your typical style.
Todd –
Youkilis was hit in the back, right in the numbers. I’ll have to disagree with Keith on this one, in that I thought the pitch was clearly intended to hit him (after all, Porcello threw one that nearly hit Victor Martinez the previous inning). I didn’t think Porcello getting tossed was egregious, given the near-hitting of Martinez (which looked like a purpose pitch to me), followed by the plunking of Youkilis.
That said, I think the whole situation was ridiculous. And even MORE ridiculous was ESPN breaking down the fight for five minutes, complete with the proper way to go about charging the mound. Just an absolutely low-point for BBTN.
Oh, I considered the pitch thrown at V-Mart. I just don’t agree that it’s definite or near-definite that Youk was hit intentionally.
Fair enough, but without writing such consideration, I figured you hadn’t.
Similarly, I don’t agree that it was definite or near-definite that Porcello was not trying to hit Youkilis; I don’t think the fact that Porcello was rolling right along supports the conclusion that he hit Youkilis unintentionally. Either way, the situation was ridiculous. As Eckersley mentioned on the broadcast, I would love to know what Leyland and Francona were talking about on the field after the brawl.
Wow, I miss BBTN for one night, did I really miss them breaking down the proper way to charge the mound? Was there a bit about to to defend yourself as a pitcher? Porcello actually executed a decent hip toss, although I think the Julian Tavarez and Nolan Ryan methods should be prerequisites for the course.
I am an unabashed Red Sox fan, but I think charging the mound was ridiculous, odd how charging the mound worked out so well in their favor.
Was the Izzy Alcantara charge used as an example?
Grant –
Yeah, they sure did. They talked about how to hit a batter (as a pitcher), and then how to charge the mound. Apparently there is an etiquette to it… and Youk broke that by throwing his helmet and trying to tackle Porcello (instead of “getting a punch in”). And Porcello was foolish to drift towards the 1st base side of the field, rather than 3rd base (because Inge was at 3rd, and as a veteran “knows what to do in that situation”). Pretty much an embarrassing night for BBTN.
Oh, and you just made my day with the Izzy Alcantara reference. That drop-kick to the catcher was CLASSIC!
Youk deserved the five games he received, but I don’t think his intent was to get Porcello out of the game after that one dominant inning.
I was in the bathroom when it happened. Bad timing.
(Although I was washing my hands. I’m not sure what the guys who were actually in “mid-activity” did.)
If you get a chance, the Boston Globe’s website has still pictures from the charge (and many other Red Sox fights). Youk’s face is hilarious, and it’s definetly worth a few minutes to take a look.
Keith,
Bob McCowan in Toronto has repeatedly stated on air in the past week that next year the Blue Jays will not only spend all of the money saved in the Rios/Rolen trades, but will increase payroll to somewhere above $100M (He’s said he’s been led to believe it could be as high as $120M, but I think that might be pushing it a bit). Given the crowd McCowan hangs with in TO (Beeston being one), what do you make of this?
Keep up the great work, love your stuff.
Kevin.
Looking forward to any writeup of today’s game. Verlander throws hard and stuff.
To everyone who criticized me not mentioning the Martinez throw, it is because I didnt see that. If you paid attention to the fact that I was asking because I was clueless, you probably would have figured that out though.
Not to rehash the debate, but that article you cited re: violence against animals correlated with violence against humans was flawed on many ways. It was not clear in what it considered violence and could not find a causal link, and the correlative link was still tenuous. Do you have more studies/information that supports that argument? And given that Vick is a grown man who has no history of violence against other people, does the study even apply to him?
Have to offer an apology for tweeting you [Keith] that Rios was a great dump for my Jays. The more I’ve read I had no idea how valuable Rios has been or could be in centre – was above co called MVP Morneau in WAR last year I think. Although that is certainly how many appeared to call it prior like this was a no brainer for the Jays (and I dont comp Buster Olney very often but he did try to explain why the Chi Sox would do this).
I really do need to have check more than just OPS+ and OBP to be informed in future.
On Plunking should baseball as Buster Olney argues try to take account of so called unwritten rules or just rule out this practise especially when the ball is head high? People who throw at heads should be disciplined IMO. In UK sports I always make the point that at least if someone does something intentionally they can stop doing it. Really intent can never be truly proved either way without an admission so why try?
Keith, I apologize for posting off-topic, but I saw today in your chat that you were looking for a breakfast place in Denver and a person recommended Snooze. Just wanted you to know that there is likely a very long line on weekends. I tried to go on a Sunday morning last summer while in town and it was around a 45-minute wait at 11am. It has very good reviews, but I didn’t stay and can’t confirm.
I don’t usually post but —
Todd, that Bettancourt comment above is golden.
Definately deserving of recognition.