On Sunday evening, in the 8th inning of a ballgame between my Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers, a little bit of hell broke loose. Even if you were intently watching the Toronto Raptors annihilate the Miami Heat to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA, you still know what happened on that Arlington baseball field. Twitter went nuts; Facebook went nuts; texts were flying! Jose Bautista, hero of Game 5 of the American League Division Series from 2015 when he blasted in a 3-run home run in what was possibly the greatest inning of baseball EVER, got rocked with probably the best right hook you will ever see if not watching a professional boxing match. The punch thrower, Roughned Odor, was, and will forever be, hated around these parts (Toronto, that is). He hit .278 during that 2015 series, but always seemed to be on base, causing trouble and starting rallies. He is a good player, a typical lead-off hitter that continuously makes things happen for his team. But why the animosity?? Why throw that punch in the first place? I've decided to try and break this down for those who seemingly know very little about the game of baseball. I have read so many comments regarding "the play", "the punch" and "the reason". I agree with some, but disagree with many, and those I disagree with seem to me to be part of the bandwagoners from last year's successful season. It is my dear wish that some of these people stop espousing their uniformed opinions and listen to those that have watched and studied the game for decades.... like me!!
The Back-Story
On that wonderful October afternoon (the 14th to be precise), the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers were battling in the fifth game of a five game series. The winner would go on to play the Kansas City Royals for the American League Pennant. It all came down to this. And I WAS THERE!!!!! I feel so fortunate to be present during the most exciting baseball game ever played in Toronto. (This may be debated, but it was certainly the most exciting baseball game I ever witnessed live!). The Jays fell behind early but clawed back by the sixth inning to tie the game 2-2. Then, the seventh! The Rangers went ahead 3-2 on a play that I have never seen before in my 43 years. Roughed Odor (yes, THAT Roughned Odor), was on third base when our catcher, Russell Martin was about to throw the ball back to the pitcher while Shin-Soo Choo stood in the batters' box. Choo was adjusting his sleeve, arm out, and the ball ricocheted off of his arm and on to the field. Immediately, Odor recognized this as an opportunity to run home. As he was running, the home plate umpire jumped out of his position and waved his arms in the air, indicating it was a "dead ball". That would mean there should be no play that needed to be made and Odor would have to return to third base. That's not what happened. After reviewing the play for twenty-odd minutes, the umpiring crew deemed the ricocheted ball as "live" and that Odor's run counted. Well, let me tell you, the fans did not agree! Drunken jackasses started to throw beer cans down on the field, hitting people below. The crowd booed so loudly it was like a horrific hum from a Sci/Fi Horror film. Everybody in that stadium was pissed off, except for the Texas Rangers. The run stood, and the Blue Jays looked as though they may lose their shot at the Pennant because of it. But there was the bottom of the seventh still ahead.
Russell Martin lead off and reached on an error. Kevin Pillar was next, and HE reached on an error! Dalton Pompey was inserted to pinch run for Martin. Ryan Goins comes up, AND REACHES ON AN ERROR!!! Three errors in a row!!! Bases loaded, none out, one run down in a do-or-die game! The Rogers Centre was going crazy!! Ben Revere hits a soft grounder to first, play at the plate...force out. One gone, bases still juiced. Josh Donaldson comes up, hits a looper that drops in, force out at second, Pompey scores! It's a tie game and the place goes nuts again! Up comes Jose Bautista, two out, men on the corners. On a 1-1 count Jose hits a ball deep to left field. A NO-DOUBTER!!! This ball is not coming back! I have never heard a noise like that, anywhere, anytime. It scared me. I thought the stadium would collapse under my feet. The Jays were ahead 6-3 and would win the series. Now, if you attended the game, and were anywhere but on the field, you did not see the "bat flip". If you claim you did, you're a liar! Everybody in that stadium was watching the flight of that ball....EVERYBODY! The bat flip was only conveyed, as to many, by friends watching at home through text messages and tweets. We had no idea it happened...but the Texas Rangers did! And that is what we need to remember, because every one of those Rangers players saw it and filed it away!
Ok, I know what you may be thinking. It's just a bat flip, why would the Rangers file that away? Because that's how rivalries are born. Bautista showed them up, whether he meant to or not. Yes, it was a very exciting moment. Yes, Bautista was pumped with adrenaline. But I tell you, as a guy who played organized hockey for fifteen or so years, guys remember shit like that! If I was slashed by someone, I remembered. If a goalie showed me up by flamboyantly making a save, I remembered. As an athlete (and I was on the lowest part of the athleticism scale) we remember when we're shown up! We want to get the better of that instance. We WANT retribution! On a level like Major League Baseball, I can only imagine the plans for retaliation for the next time those two teams played each other. It's a real thing, people. Those who don't know just don't know! Whether you think it's right or wrong has absolutely no bearing on the issue. And by the way, I don't necessarily think it was the bat flip that pissed off the Rangers. That pose by Jose, standing at home plate with a little "fuck you" to the pitcher Sam Dyson, in my mind, was far worse than any throw of the bat.
The Current Story
Ok, so now it's 2016. The Texas Rangers were scheduled to play Toronto, in Toronto, at the beginning of May, the 2nd to the 5th. Tons of media speculated about retribution during this series. Would Bautista get plunked his first time up to bat? Would the Rangers take the high road and not go after him? The "unwritten rules of baseball" definitely pointed to the former. (A little tangent here: there are ABSOLUTELY unwritten rules, in every sport, and they have gotten us through over 130 years of professional baseball so shut the fuck up about it being silly and read a little history on the game!!!!). (Oh my, I felt angry there). Anyway, nothing happened. Four game series, no apparent intentional craziness. Ok, maybe nothing will come of it, we can all lower our guard now.
May 13-15 is another series against the Rangers, this time in Texas. Nothing of note for the first two games. The third game is a back and forth affair (thank you Jesse Chavez!!) when the 8th inning starts.
Out comes Matt Bush, a player who was drafted by the San Diego Padres as the first pick overall way back in 2004. Twelve years ago! Bush had a whole lot of personal troubles, never playing in the Majors, and landing in jail in 2012 for a drunk driving conviction. This would be his second appearance in the Majors. Due up first, Jose Bautista. Nobody would ever think that Bush would go after Bautista; Texas had just gone ahead by one run and you don't put the tying run on base late in a close game intentionally, right?? On the very first pitch Bush plants the ball in Bautista's back. Glances were exchanged, yapping from the benches occurred as Jose made his way down to first base. The umpire came out and warned both benches, meaning if another pitch hit a player, by accident or intentional, that pitcher would be thrown out of the game. This, by the way, is an important point! The next batter, Edwin Encarnacion hits a fly ball, one out. Justin Smoak comes up and hits a ground ball to third base. Looks like a routine double play, but it became anything but routine. Bautista goes hard into second base, being covered by Odor. He starts his slide late and slides past the bag as Odor leaps out of the way to avoid being hit. Last year, and for a hundred years before it, the slide by Bautista was totally legal. Because of a freak accident from last year when Chase Utley tried to break up a double play and ended up breaking the infielder's leg in the process, this slide is now considered illegal, and the defending team is awarded an automatic double play. Bautista knows about this rule all too well. He was called for it twice earlier in the season. He knew, full well, that going in hard would cost his team the chance to rally in that inning. But he did it anyway. Why?? Payback....and a whole lot of adrenaline! He just got plunked by a pitch, and it was intentional. (There is absolutely nobody that can ever convince me that Bush's pitch "got away from him"). Bush wanted to ingratiate himself to his new team. He had the opportunity by laying down his team's payback on Bautista for showing them up the previous year, and he took it! The call didn't come from the bench, it was Bush's idea, 100%!! So Bautista was mad and took it out on Odor, simply because he was there.
The Punch
As a result of the hard slide into second base, Rougned Odor became very angry. He got up and faced Bautista. Jose doesn't say a word, but edged closer to Odor. He shoves Bautista away, a hard shove that you could feel in your chest through the TV set. Bautista comes back at him and Odor clocks him! I mean, a better punch I have rarely seen! A right roundhouse that knocks Bautista's sunglasses AND batting helmet flying off his head. Adrian Beltre, the Rangers' third baseman, gets between Odor and Bautista very quickly and holds Jose back while both benches empty. Beltre pulls Bautista away and a lot of pushing and shoving and name calling ensue between the players of both teams.
Now, let's answer a few questions:
1. Was Matt Bush's pitch that hit Bautista in the first place intentionally thrown?
ABSOLUTELY!! It was the first pitch thrown to him and it went right at him, no curve, no slide, no knuckle. It was completely stupid, as Bush's team was holding a precarious lead. It was also completely cowardly, as it was during the last game of the series where the two teams would not play each other again for the rest of the season. And, more importantly, the home plate umpire warned both benches after the pitch, meaning he knew full well it was an intentional hit. Warnings don't come to benches on pitches that "get away from" the pitcher!
2. Was Jose Bautista wrong for sliding into Odor the way he did?
ABSOLUTELY! He damn well knew it was an illegal play but he didn't care. He took his own rage and revenge over the good of the team. Bautista fully expected to get hit by a pitch at some point during the games between his team and the Rangers. When it finally happened, he got angry. And for those who think Bautista tried to injure Odor, you're all insane! If he wanted to hurt Odor, HE WOULD HAVE HURT ODOR!! It is very easy to go hard INTO a player. Bautista went hard INTO the bag, huge difference!!
3. Did Odor sucker punch Bautista?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! A sucker punch is when you have no idea the punch is coming. Bautista got up after the slide and non-verbally challenged Odor to do something about it. Odor shoved Bautista. Bautista then came back at Odor, arm cocking back, fingers in the process of making a fist. Odor probably didn't see the intentions of Bautista's fingers, but reacted quickly and punched Jose square on the left jaw. Now I don't think Bautista was necessarily going to punch Odor in the face, but he was CERTAINLY getting ready to punch him. Odor was just quicker.
4. Did any of this need to happen?
Well, in the real world, of course not. It's childish. It's thuggish. But you know what?? It's also BASEBALL!! Whether you agree with it or not, this stuff happens in baseball all the time. As I mentioned before, so angrily, there are unwritten rules to this glorious game, and the number one unwritten rule is: You stand up for your team and teammates AT ALL TIMES!! This fight had nothing to do with how Bautista felt about Odor or vice versa. It had everything to do with how the Rangers felt after that stare down and bat flip from the ALDS from last year. It is why, on his first pitch in the next inning, Jesse Chavez hit Prince Fielder in the leg, getting an automatic ejection (because of the previous warnings) and getting the benches all riled up again. That's how baseball works! If you don't understand it, or don't like it, then don't watch it. These kind of things happen dozens of times throughout a baseball season...maybe not to the extent as we saw Sunday night, but they happen.
Nobody was "right" throughout this whole scenario. Bush wasn't right to plunk Bautista. Bautista wasn't right to slide hard into Odor. Odor wasn't right to punch Bautista in the face. Chavez wasn't right to throw at Fielder. None of that is right...but it was some of the best Goddamn baseball I've seen in a very long time!!! Just ask Ty Cobb or BillyMartin or Pete Rose or Reggie Jackson or Bob Gibson or any other former player that played this game hard and mean at all times!
And, my God, what a punch!!!!!
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