May 13, 2008
Antics Tuesday
Today seems to be the day to complain about antics. First, old fogey Goose Gossage complains about Joba Chamberlain:
"There's no place for it in the game," Gossage told reporters Monday during a tour of the Hall of Fame, according to MLB.com. "I will stand by that and I love Joba Chamberlain. I'm with him down in Spring Training. He's a great kid, but no one is passing the torch today. Nobody talks to them. When I broke into the big leagues, I didn't say two words all year."
Chamberlain's antics again drew attention after he celebrated after striking out the Indians' David Dellucci last Thursday. Two days earlier, Dellucci hit a game-winning pinch-hit home run off of Chamberlain.
Nelson Figueroa is miffed!
After getting the third out of the third inning, Figueroa turned toward the Nationals dugout and made a mock clapping gesture into his glove in response to what he perceived was the Washington bench's rhythmic clapping for his walk and error during the inning.
Figueroa was not happy afterward.
"They were cheering in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls," he said. "I am a professional, I take great offense to that. ... They won tonight, but in the long run, look who they are, a last-place team."
Milledge defended his teammates: "We didn't try to rattle him. We're trying to get our guys going."
Gossage has a point, but I always thought the respect your elders aspect of rookies was silly. Goose didn't say two words because when he came up, the veterans pitchers on the team saw him as a threat to their jobs and wouldn't talk to him. With long term contracts, it's easier to see a rookie as someone to help the team win, and therefore nurture. That's what Mussina tried to do with Hughes and Kennedy. Still it's never a good idea to anger your opponents. Joba will learn that eventually.
As for Nelson, that's just sour grapes. And you know the softball quote is going up in the Nats locker room. It sounds to me that the Nats are a team, and that's a good thing.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:39 AM
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i like joba, and generally enjoy his...enthusiasm. but i thought david delucci had a good point : ""If a hitter did something like that, it would be bush. It's kind of interesting how a pitcher gets away with it," he said."
I wonder how come no one picks on Papelbon? Just as with Joba, he doesn't do a celebration for nothing, he does one when in a tough jam or when against a tough opponent or something of the sort. I've seen him do a vicious fist pumping and screaming when he closed out the Yankees one night, but all we hear about is Joba?
I don't think either should be picked on... if you aren't showing emotion on the field, you've lost the emotion in your heart to truly play the game. It's one thing if you hit a homerun or strikeout a player and POINT at them or taunt them, but to celebrate a moment is human nature. I didn't realize one of the requirements to be a pro-ballplayer was to be a robot.
I think there's a difference between being obviously pumped up and obviously taunting someone.
There's the opposite, you get players like Manny who goofs around or looks like he doesn't care. It all comes down to personality type.
I don't see the problem. If that gets in to someones head then mission accomplished. It's something for the fans to talk about and makes for way more interesting baseball. If the taunting leads to a brawl, then it should serve to lengthen the suspension. Informing a batter of his level of suck on his way back to the dugout is awesome... just as a batter doing the same to a pitcher on the way around. With everything, moderation is best.
Eventually fist pump will be a stat. The value would be correlated to the leverage index for that situation. Fist pumps out of context count negatively. It will be in the clutch department... just next to 'walk off home plate scrum index' and 'grit factor'.
Nelson should have put one between the shoulder blades, talking to media was silly. The Nats dugout antics were small time on the high school level. Acta disgraced himself, big Frank would have leveled his own kids.
The fist pump is weak, Joba will drop it.
The thing is in the AL pitchers never hit - when these things could be settled.
Abe - You are correct - Frank Robinson would have stopped the Nats' cheerleaders in a heartbeat.
You don't have to fist pump or strut to show emotion. Does anyone remember George Brett's actions after his game clinching HR off Gossage in the 1980 playoffs? Brett was the first to the yard, last to leave and played the game with actual passion, not choreographed antics for ESPN.