Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 14, 2007
A Boot to the Head?

Dice-K just threw at Jeter's head. He missed. We'll see if he gets suspended. :-)

Update: Matsuzaka hits A-Rod with the first pitch. Now I'm serious. Matsuzaka let a ball get away that almost hit Jeter. He does hit A-Rod. Is it intentional payback for Chamberlain's throws at Youkilis? If nothing else, Dice-K is a bit wild this inning, which could be dangerous to hitters. That's why I thought the ump was right to boot Chamberlain. Whether he meant to throw at Youkilis or not, he showed he was dangerous. How is Matsuzaka different tonight?


Posted by David Pinto at 07:17 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Joba had intent to throw at youkilis. There's no intent to load the bases in the first inning, unless Dice-K is completely baseball-stupid.

Posted by: Jacques at September 14, 2007 08:18 PM

What was Joba's intent? I've yet to see a good explanation for that.

Posted by: David Pinto at September 14, 2007 08:22 PM

Well, the Red Sox are America's Team (TM), so obviously they would never throw at anyone. The fact that they seem to hit 1 or 2 Yankees every time the two teams play is just coincidence.

Posted by: Kevin at September 14, 2007 08:29 PM

I think the fact that Dice-K is the starter has a lot to do with it. I'd hope that the umpires would have a longer leash with a starter than a reliever. Kicking out a middle reliever doesn't affect the game like kicking out the starter. As far as Joba's intent, how about the fact that he's a dumbass rookie trying to make a name for himself?

Posted by: Tom at September 14, 2007 08:36 PM

So you can look into Joba's head and know what he's thinking?

Posted by: David Pinto at September 14, 2007 08:39 PM

When Joba threw the first pitch, I thought he was sending a message. He threw the ball way over Kevin's head to the back stop. That's the "don't dig in against me, I'm a bit wild pitch." When he threw the second one the same way, I thought there was something wrong with him, because it's just too stupid to do that twice.

Posted by: David Pinto at September 14, 2007 08:40 PM

As a Yankee fan, I'd rather Dice-K stays in the game. We could use his 5.00+ ERA tonight. But he probably should be thrown out considering the history.

Posted by: Devon Young at September 14, 2007 09:00 PM

Of course, we don't know either pitcher's intent. Maybe they were sending messages, maybe they were wild, maybe one was sending the message.
The point is that it simply isn't fair to throw one pitcher out and leave another in for exactly the same actions. MLB has to force umpires to be consistent about this, or the rule won't deter, won't have any positive effect, and is just arbitrary, subjective, capricious.

It's an interesting game today -- not a particularly *good* game, but it would be interesting for me if it weren't spoiled by the umpires failing to enforce the rules.

Posted by: James at September 14, 2007 10:31 PM

Matsuzaka hit Rodriguez with a curveball. A curveball. Jesus, David - you've seen baseball games before, right? It was the most obviously unintentional HBP I've seen in a while. Bad post on a great blog.

Posted by: Matt Davis at September 16, 2007 12:31 PM

Oh come on Matt, I am trying to point out the absurity of the situation. No one can judge intent. What Matsuaka did was worse than what Joba did, intentional or not. Joba came no where near hitting Youkilis. Matsuaka's pitch to Jeter was right at his head, and then he actually hit Rodriguez. Either you're going to throw pitchers out when they throw too many pitches where they shouldn't be, or you're not. I don't care if it's an underhand softball lob. Pitches aren't supposed to be in the batter's box.

Posted by: David Pinto at September 16, 2007 01:04 PM

A curveball isn't a purpose pitch, ever. And it shouldn't be treated as such. You never know intent with a fastball. But you don't even have to wonder on a curve.

Posted by: Matt Davis at September 16, 2007 03:01 PM
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