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Originally Posted by pan6467
First, if you protect the bag from the runner with any part of your body, ask any catcher, 3b, 2b, ss who has ever played the game. Bartlett was playing ball the way he should be. To say "well he may break fingers".... is the equivelant to saying, "spikes first at your knee". Both are the WRONG attitude. It should be "let's play ball the way it should be played hard and earn our money".
Ty Cobb used to sharpen his spikes before every game so when he stole a base if someone tried to get in his way they got a message. Pete Rose when he started in the majors and played 2b would almost be like a catcher guarding the plate.
Secondly, throwing at someone's hip is far from a "beanball".
Thirdly, YES the field position players run out and protect their pitcher.
I remember as a kid watching Johnny Carson, he had on Yogi Berra. Johnny asked Yogi about the brawls in baseball..... Yogi said this (paraphrased) "You ever watch a baseball brawl, we hit like women. We go ut and pile up and swing with stiff arms, we don't want to truly hurt anyone, because we have to play those guys again and if we hurt one of them this game..... they'll hurt one of us next game."
Have you watched the brawl? Sheilds missed his punch on Coco quite easily. Some of it was for show, some to say "don't fuck with me". The brawl afterward..... come on that was far from a street fight. Was Coco seriously injured?
Come on, now. For the love of God brawls and this stuff has always been a part of baseball's charm for many of us. Crying over it and saying "they started it".... is petty little league bullshit.
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First, the only player who routinely blocks, or should block the base is the catcher. Look at any play at second, good technique when receiving a throw from the catcher is to straddle the bag so that when you receive the baseball you do not have to reach back to tag the runner. There is no coach in the world who will tell you to block the bag with your knee. It is bad etiquette and bad technique. Watch the plays at second, you almost never see it. Besides, Joe Maddon got completely bent out of shape when something similar happened to his player (against the Yankees).
Second, although beanball is usually throwing at a batter's head, intentionally plunking a hitter still escalates the situation.
Third, you and Yogi are right that most basebrawls are usually purse-swingers, this however was not. Crawford, Gomes, etc were going in there with a definite attempt to injure and swing as hard as they could at a defenseless guy (who was in a chokehold, by the way). If you saw that at a bar you would call them a bunch of pussies for jumping in six on one. Besides, you protect your pitcher by separating the parties. Seriously, their pitcher is a hulking 6'4", and Coco is the second smallest guy on the roster, how much protecting did he really need.
The bottom line is that the Rays have a vast inferiority complex and have sucked for so long that they have bad blood with a lot of teams, especially the Yankees and Sox, who they play 18 times a year, and consistently lose to. Add in a bunch of players with bad attitudes and discipline problems (Gomes, Upton) and you get a team of punks.
Coco would have been better off not charging the mound, but, it was Maddon's fault for escalating the situation. He has to act like a manager, not a child in that circumstance.