August 3, 2014

Stupid Retaliation

Arizona appeared to go after Andrew McCutchen late in Saturday night’s game, possibly in retaliation for a hit by pitch on Friday that broke Paul Goldschmidt‘s hand. There didn’t seem to be any indication on Friday that the Diamondbacks thought the broken hand was intentional:

“It hurts,” said D-backs manager Kirk Gibson. “He’s one of the best players on our team and one of the best players in the league. There are risks to playing the game. The ball ran up-and-in, and we’re very familiarly with what happens when guys get hit in the hand. It’s our third guy in just a little over a year.”

The Pirates pitcher did come up and in to Paul and he couldn’t get his hands out of the way.

Given that Goldschmidt wasn’t in the game until a double switch, I find it tough to believe that was intentional. McCutchen, however, gets drilled in the middle of his back, and the pitch was a bit high.

Clint Hurdle was pretty stoic about it:

Asked if he thought it was intentional, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle repeated the words “The game takes care of itself.”

I understand why teams retaliate, but I wish they would keep it to situations in which the first infraction was purely intentional, like hitting the next batter after a home run. Losing Goldschmidt is a blow to the Diamondbacks, but their season is lost already. And please aim for the buttocks.

Update: Matthew Pouliot at Hardball Talk wants the management of the Diamondbacks fired:

GM Kevin Towers wants his eye-for-an-eye, and he has his like-minded henchman in the dugout in Kirk Gibson. Both wish for the Diamondbacks to be the league’s most intimidating team, a group of gritty, do-anything-it-takes-to-win outlaws. When it comes to the roster, talent has taken a backseat to simply fitting the mold.

But it hasn’t worked. Not at all. After consecutive .500 seasons, the Diamondbacks are 48-63 this year. The future seems even more bleak. They’re not a young club now, and they’ve traded a number of prospects for veterans the last two years.

On Saturday, the Diamondbacks flat-out embarrassed themselves. Because of their mentality, it was a given that they’d seek revenge after Paul Goldschmidt suffered a broken finger when he was hit by a pitch during Friday’s game. There was nothing intentional about that pitch, something Goldschmidt himself acknowledged. But the Diamondbacks were going to drill Andrew McCutchen last night regardless.

Grit without talent gets you nowhere.

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