
Well that was quite the donnybrook in Florida last night. Actual bad blood. The usual bad fighting form (you don’t drop your arms to your side, Chris Volstad). And some rogue Red Rover Red Rover send Nyjer right over action from Gaby Sanchez. All in all, entertaining stuff from two teams going nowhere as September unfolds.
As for what started all of it, that would be Morgan. He’s had an eventful few weeks. His alleged sins:
1. Suspended for throwing a ball into the stands and at a fan in Philly. Except, by all accounts, he wasn’t throwing it at a fan. Instead, he was doing what cool ballplayers do, and flipping the last out of an inning to fans for a possible souvenir. Except that where it went the guy wasn’t looking. From what I understand, the fans in the area where it happened say he wasn’t throwing it at anyone. For this, MLB over-reacted and handed down a seven-game suspension that is under appeal. I discount this “incident”.
2. Was mean to back-up St. Louis catcher Bryan Anderson over the weekend, going out of his way to make contact when he didn’t have to. That was kinda douchy. Jim Riggleman, Washington manager even said so.
3. Killed Marlins catcher Brett Hayes in a play at the plate two nights ago, again, when a slide would have probably sufficed. Hayes seperated a shoulder on the play and is out for the season. Given that he didn’t have to hit Hayes, this one was pretty douchy too.
4. In response to the play at the plate and Hayes’ injury, Morgan got hit last night. He accepted the beaning and went to first without complaint. That’s what he should have done.
5. When on base, and with his team down by 11 in the 4th inning, Morgan stole second and third and scored on a sac fly. Remember this.
6. Next time up, Volstad throws behind Morgan, who heads to the mound to the aforementioned melee.
Apparently, the stealing bases thing was something that pissed the Marlins off and led to the second attempted beaning. One of baseball’s unwritten rules. And, if so, I really don’t get this one. If you are down 10 you are supposed to stop trying to win? It makes no sense to me, at all.
So, to recap, Morgan has had a weird couple of weeks, and was pretty much douchy in two instances. That said, I don’t get, in the end, how Morgan stealing two bases in the 4th down 11 was something that should have precipitated another beaning. I am positive that Morgan is going to get a long vacation for this, because everything above will be lumped together when his suspension is handed out, but I hope Volstad gets a long one as well. Wes Helms postgame said that Morgan stole the bases “out of spite” and that the Marlins won’t stand for “bad play”.
That’s just stupid. So, ahead of time, I plan a free Morgan campaign. Even if he is douchy.
