This was passed on to me from a friend that is following the Aggie hardballers to all of the games this season. I thought you guys would appreciate our coach's approach to the game...
No doubt JO'Co would approve!! bTw....have you noticed that the Longhorns apparently have lost the abilty to field a ball cleanly?
he got what he earned <t>if he didn't want to get hit, he had two choices.<br/> <br/> 1. Not play like an arsehole.<br/> 2. Duck</t>
I've come around in the last few years through reading Corey's and JO'Co's comments and analysis of how the game is played. I played the game in my younger days and I have had a lifelong love affair with the game. Although I've never understood the use of the baseball as a weapon, I have even less tolerance for high spiking and trying to injure defenseless fielders. At my age I've come to realize that there are many things in life I don't understand but which have a purpose. In this case I see clearly the purpose in throwing at the SOB.
Question is given the fact that he was hit 3 times after the collision, were any Aggie pitchers thrown out of the game? I would think after the 1st plunking that there would be a warning and the next guy would be tossed as would the 3rd guy. Or if it was the same pitcher he'd have been tossed after the 2nd beaner. I know that's they way it is in MLB, if after a dust up a guy is hit or thrown high and tight, there is a warning and the next one is an automatic ejection. In fact I think if the warning goes to one pitcher and he's taken out of the game and the next guy hits somebody or throws at the player he's ejected.
The lesson there would to be the one to take the first shot. So the guy that slides into second with his spikes flashing gets no punishment and any retaliation is punished. Maybe you could hit him the next day? That way you return the favor.
Terry, Two of the plunks came in different games, but the third had to be later in one of those games. My guess is they didn't make it obvious. As long as you keep it down, I don't have a problem with it. I never want to see a fastball near the head, but if you bring it in on the hip, it's hard to get away from, and still sends the message. It's also easy to argue that it "just got away from ya" ;-)
Im not crawling in anyone's head <t>I certainly don't know why the coaches ordered it, or if they even did. If these guys were taught properly, they did it on their own.<br/> <br/> Speaking from my position, I feel that is an offense worthy of ejection. So he's going to keep getting plunked until he's taken out of the game by his coaches. They know what he did.. especially if he wasn't spoken to or torn a new one by one of the coaches... and trust me, you can see that..and someone is watching for it. That was a bush move with the intent to injure. Beaning isn't (always) an intent to injure, you can hit guys in ways that don't really hurt that bad.. Spikes high into a defenseless SS or 2b is nothing more than a clear attempt to take that player out of the game.<br/> <br/> That's just bad umpiring all the way around. I see what Terry is saying about there not being a warning. Ray Charles can see that would be coming and when it did, warnings all the way around should have been issued....and at that point in time the coach of the pitcher should go out there and quietly remind the umpire that none of this would have been needed if he would have just thumbed the kid trying to hurt people..so why punish a kid for standing up for his team?? Listen to whatever idiotic response the umpire gives you (anything short of, "you're right I blew it" is wrong btw) tell him that said response is wrong and head back to the dugout.. case closed.<br/> <br/> But the ump didn't act.. if he doesn't take control, then someone else will. That's not just baseball, that's life.</t>
The problem with the way MLB handles it is that once the ump issues the warning, then it gets dicey and it can take away some of the pitchers aggressiveness because he's worried that if an inside pitch does get away from him he's going to be tossed...wheter he was going after the guy or just being agressive with an inside pitch.
Oh...and by the way Duran (the guy with ice on his ankle) just happens to be hitting over .400. Like Corey said, a "bad" slide is almost always done with intent. The umps should have handled it. I used to play SS, and was lucky enough to never really get munched on a relay.
It all depends Terry <t>I've been part of a game in which 6 of our pitchers and all of our staff members sans our half-retarded bat boy coach got ejected. It all depends on how badly you want to make that point.<br/> <br/> It should be noted that, as long as I remained the guy there..we NEVER had another bean brawl again.. It was against a traditional rule bending bully and we did it to show them we won't back down, as long as we have the lads wearing our colors in the dugout, we will keep that up until the point is made.<br/> <br/> When my boss returned from vacation he had lots of questions for me and seemed more than a little upset that I "rocked the boat." I explained to him that those kids depend on us, we are here for them not the other way around...if we let grown men walk on us and our kids like that, what message are we saying about their worth to us?<br/> <br/> I told him if that sunnovabitch head coach from the other time drove up right now, I'd throw my shoe at that b@stard.</t>