I like it. There are a lot of unwritten rules in sports that need to be followed. Two come to mind. One is in football when I used to set up our huddle on defense as an LB, I made sure that noone from the other team walked through our huddle. You better not, or risk being pushed out/hit out, or you more than likely would be targetted to be dismantled on the next play. Another thing I see in basketball is that when another team comes out to warm up, they do not run all over the other teams side of the court. It is disrespectful to be doing drills and other things on the other teams side of the court. It sets the tone for the game when one team just allows another to disrespect them without repercussion, and that holds true in all sports. I have seen it happen and generally the team that gets punked doesn't win. I like it, go A's in that regard.
A-Rod knew what he was doing or he is as dumb as I suspect him to be. Remember the incident a few years ago when he rounded third base and yelled, " I got it!" on a pop up the opposing 3rd baseman was trying to catch. I learned that common courtesy in little leauge. I find him rather stupid or extremely arrogant.
I never knew this "unwritten rule". I texted my brother who pitched a lot of baseball growing up & he was pretty adimant that it wasn't right for some one to cross his mound and they'd have been ducking thier next at bat.
He continues to show what an ASS he can be...I use to like him alot, but he sours more and more each year. Not because of this act, but because he just does'nt get baseball. I use to despise Jeter, but now I finally realize what a legend looks like, and he lines up right beside AROD everyday...making him look all the more classless.
This, like most games, is played as much in the mind as on the field. ARod obviously rattled the pitcher. The team (A's) won the game but ARod clearly won the battle. That pitcher will be scarred everytime he faces ARod.! Not a rules infraction...well done I say!
Rattled him? I guess that's ONE way to look at it....lol. The pitcher has a ball in his hand.....and can throw it at your noggin. And, there's not a damned thing you can do about it.....unless you wanna man-up. Scarred? Lost me. Who has the ball?
Last time arod manned up varitek slammed him on his back...I usually don't get caught up with an opinion of these guys outside their babseball/sports prowess...but I will be damned if arod is not a diva. Good point Jeff, never mess with the guy with the ball.
I must have missed the getting "slammed on his back" part. A-rod mans up and gets in Variteks face. Varitek being the man that he is goes after him slapping at his face like a girl. Not to mention still wearing all his catchers gear so he doesn't get jacked by a-rod. Yeah.... manly man there. Lol.... yep don't mess with the guy with the ball. He can throw a 90mph fastball at your head. Yet another manly man move. And then back up like a girl when someone charges the mound waiting for his teamates to bail him out. Kind of a cowardly move if you ask me. I understand the whole concept of policing the game yada yada. I still think there's no place in baseball for throwing at someone. You have a problem? Be a man and get in someones face. Cowardly tactic if you ask me. That would be like in hockey taking a slapshot at someones head. Instead they drop the gloves and square up. As far as running across the mound? Are you serious? Is it really a big deal? It's dirt. It's the way back to 1st base. It's part of the field. Stupid unwritten rule.
NY.... Mind if I walk in your line? Talk in your backswing? I thought so. Ask Robin Ventura if Nolan Ryan backed up like a girl. Look,.......you either "get it"....or you don't.
Totally different and you know it (at least I hope). Walking in my line physicall effects my putt. Talking in my backswing breaks the concentration needed throughout the golf swing and could easily cause an errant shot. How does stepping on the pitchers mound affect his next pitch.... physically? It doesn't. I get it Jeff. I just don't agree with it. Throw at someones head and possibly injure or end his career to say "I told you so"? Why not just strike him out to send a message?
Then the next guy hits a 2 run dinger...:D Is he gonna throw at him everytime he faces him? Don't forget batters have pretty good control and could easily hit a bullet up the middle. Every baseball discussion you bring up this notion of throwing at the batter. Sure it happens and has it's merit. But it's not a manly means of self defense, it's usually done to protect someone else..not yourself. Let a batter charge the mound holding the bat (his tool of the trade) and see how he is admonished.
If you truly believe this.....this concversation's over. You were kidding, though, right????????? Who said anything about "self-defense"? We're talking about protecting the integrity of the game. You don't have to understand it OR agree with it.....unless you play it. You don't have to, then, either.......but, watch your noggin.
This has been part of the game since the beginning of it. It usually gets the point across 9 times out of 10. Arod did not just run across the mound. He ran across the rubber. The first thing every pitcher does before he throws a warm up pitch is get the rubber ready for himself. Arod blatenly ran right across the rubber. Why? Why would you run across the pitchers mound anyway? You just don't do it. You don't yell, " I got it" while you round third base on a pop up to the opposing third baseman either. The guy has zero class. I promise you if I had been the pitcher the next pitch Arod would have saw would have been at his eyes. Plain and simple.
Integrity of the game my hind-quarters. And yes I do believe my statement. So you may end the conversation. Those handy with a bat can easily go to right or left field on command...you believe the middle is any different? I'm still involved in the game today. So go put on a Bruce Springsteen CD and relive your Glory Days..on a less informed audience.
Bob,......you remind me of the far side cartoon.....when the one dog's in the car....looking back and laughing at his friends. They're sitting there....and he says.....Nanananana....I'm going to get tutored. I don't think I could be speaking with anyone LESS informed. Hell,.....the best of the best get a hit 3 out of 10 times. Where's the display of this precision batted ball placement the other 70+% of the time? So tell me the extent of how you're "still involved in the game today".....and also some background on how you were ever "involved". You know.....the "glory days".
Snap!! While I agree with your statement, I do feel that it is much harder to hit a line drive right back at the pitchers head then to pull an inside pitch or hit an outside pitch to the opposite field.
LOL! I don't even know baseball and can easily understand how next to IMPOSSIBLE it is for someone to purposefully "aim" a hit toward a pitcher...LOL. Come on guys, we are talking about MLB, where guys throw 95-100mph....we are not talking about a church softball league.
See this is the mentality I just don't understand. This statement is said (not necessarily by you 2 lung) with some sort of machoism. Why? I'm going to throw a ball at you? Ohhhh wow big man lol. There's nothing better than when a pitcher throws at a hitter and then he jacks the next pitch 500 feet. That's his response. Hit a homerun. A pitchers response is to throw his little ball at the defenseless hitter 90mph? WOW! Maybe next time I get pissed at someone on the golf course I'll turn towards the adjacent fairway and buzz his head with a titleist coming off my 3 wood.
NY..... In the scenario where the pitcher is feeling like he's not getting his share of the plate......there's more to it than meets the eye. Let's say the umpire won't call strikes that the pitcher thinks are hitting the inside corner. NOW....he's gotta get the batters further off the plate (or they rock him). Nothing more than an inside pitch - with a purpose (two-fold purpose). What you typically see is one of these pitches getting away from a pitcher (when he actually hits someone). Can that start a back-n-forth? Sure. If MLB hitters walked into the box with 100% calmness, someone would hit .375, every year. And, the avg. batting avg. would go up 30pts.
