For those of you who missed it, there was a slight disagreement over proper decorum between Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett and, well, pretty much the entire LA Angles team. The genesis of it all? Bobby Abreu calling timeout. Normally not a big deal, but he did it during Beckett's windup. The umpire (foolishly) granted the timeout request, and Beckett, since he was already in the middle of his pitching motion, let the pitch fly anyway...over Abreu's head.
Abreu wasn't thrilled with the location, and stared at Beckett with a "what was that?" look on his face. That gave Josh the chance to do what he loves best, be ornery towards a batter. Beckett had words with Abreu, the benches cleared, and then Beckett had words with Angels coach Mike Scioscia, and some shoving ensued.
Interestingly, 4 Angels players/coaches were ejected, and no Red Sox were. But, MLB disagreed with that decision, and suspended Beckett for 6 games. Beckett claims the ball wasn't intentionally tossed near Abreu's head, and if you believe that, I have a Red Sox 2003 ALCS Champions ring to sell you. There is no way Beckett wasn't trying to send a message with that throw. If you don't believe me, check out his actions immediately afterwards. He gets in the face of Abreu, Scioscia, and the Rally Monkey.
Was the suspension justified? Yes. Being a starting pitcher, Beckett only plays once every 5 games, so a 6 game suspension for Beckett is the same as a 1 game suspension for a regular player. And given Beckett's intentional toss in the vicinity of Abreu's (large) head, it's warranted.
That being said, I believe Beckett was right to make the statement he did. The ball was far enough away from Abreu's head to not be a threat to harm the ex-Yankee. Since it wasn't dangerous, it was a perfectly valid statement to make: watch yourself, batter. Batters have no fear anymore: from the body armor they wear at the plate that would make a tank blush, to the quick warnings given by the umpires when a pitcher throws too far inside, pitchers don't have much on their side anymore. Hitters can even dictate the pace of the game by calling timeout and stepping out of the box after every pitch. And the balance wasn't this out of whack 30 years ago. It has swung, gradually, towards the hitters over time. If pitchers don't make a statement on something like this, soon they'll have to underhand the ball over the plate, and batters will be outfitted head-to-toe in Kevlar.
The pendulum has already swung well to the side of the hitters, the pitchers have to protect what little ground they have left to stand on. Beckett did that. Missing a game is warranted, but he did the right thing.
I disagree that Beckett had to throw at, excuse me, I mean "near" Abreu to protect his turf. If he doesn't want the guy stepping out then, gee I've got an idea.....throw the pitch!!! I agree the game has gone over to the hitters; but pitchers in the American league got no complaint because they don't have to step in to face the consequences of their actions. Beckett can stand out there and pretend to be tough because he know's no one will touch him. I'd like to see him play the tough guy in the NL.
ReplyDeleteOf course if only the umps would enforce the rules to speed up the game, call the strike zone, etc., the players like Beckett wouldn't have time to think about how to look "macho" for the cameras. Remember they've been told it's all about "entertainment."