Category Archives: Retaliation
Great Scott! Red Sox, Rays Continue Decades-Long Dustup
Jeez. You go away for a long Memorial Day weekend, and all heck breaks loose. The nice thing about looking at situations like this in retrospect is the clarity afforded by the long view, in which the reactions to a … Continue reading
Filed under Retaliation, Luke Scott, Franklin Morales
All Quiet in Philly: Hamels-Harper Drama Reaches Accord
So the big showdown happened. Nearly three weeks after his drilling of Bryce Harper renewed baseball’s fascination with the unwritten rules, Cole Hamels stepped to the plate three times against Edwin Jackson, once with first base open, and didn’t even … Continue reading
Filed under Bryce Harper, Cole Hamels, Retaliation
Who to Target, and Why: Showdown at Wrigley Serves as Interleague Primer
For a vast majority of baseball’s history, much was made of the difference between the National and American leagues. AL: Based on the three-run homer. NL: Prefers to sacrifice. Recently, however, decades after the adoption of the designated hitter amplified … Continue reading
Filed under Retaliation
Ask What You can Do for Your Teammates: Kennedy Avenges Parra, a Season Later
Perhaps this is what Cole Hamels was talking about when he proclaimed his drilling of Bryce Harper last week to be “old-school baseball.” Old-school baseball frequently involves long memories, and a willingness to respond to a situation even if it has … Continue reading
Filed under Clayton Kershaw, Ian Kennedy, Retaliation
Brewers Denied Target Practice: Wright Pre-Emptively Pulled
Because such thing exists as a pre-emptive strike, it goes to follow that its opposite must be pre-emptive strike avoidance. It’s a term not frequently utilized, especially in Major League Baseball, but it concisely sums up the strategy employed by … Continue reading
Filed under Retaliation, Terry Collins
North Side Slap Fight: Braves, Cubs Trade Drillings at Wrigley
All the people yelling about how Bryce Harper didn’t do anything to deserve his drilling from Cole Hamels on Sunday can rest a bit easier. Somebody in baseball finally merited retaliation, and retaliation was delivered. We think. Speculation begins in … Continue reading
Filed under Retaliation
Message Sent: Hamels Drills Harper, Floodgates Open
This is the Code, at its deepest and most ingrained levels. It is the confluence of ability and pride and hype and the concept that all men must earn their successes. It is the old guard welcoming the new—player and … Continue reading
Filed under Bryce Harper, Cole Hamels, Retaliation
A Time and a Place for Everything, or: What Was it You Were Retaliating for, Again?
In baseball, it’s not difficult to determine what constitutes a retaliation-worthy offense, and what does not. Intent behind that HBP? Retaliate away. Nobody should say a word. On Tuesday, however, Reds reliever Sam LeCure apparently didn’t care for the fact … Continue reading
Filed under Buster Posey, Retaliation, Sam LeCure
Royal Rumble: Choo Revisits Old Times with Sanchez
Baseball has an early clubhouse leader in on-field sensitivity, by his own admission no less, a particularly notable event considering that we’re barely a week into the schedule. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Shin-Soo Choo. Choo’s sensitivity training began on opening … Continue reading
Filed under Jonathan Sanchez, Retaliation, Shin-Soo Choo
On the Importance of Umpires Knowing at Least Something About the Game they’re Purporting to Officiate
On Saturday, Prince Fielder launched two home runs off of Boston’s Josh Beckett within the game’s first five innings. In the bottom of the seventh, he was hit on the calf by Red Sox reliever Matt Albers. Phil Coke came … Continue reading
Filed under Retaliation, Umpires Knowing the Code
