If you follow baseball, then by now you鈥檝e most likely heard about the situation between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, or, more specifically, Blue Jays鈥� slugger Jose Bautista and Rangers鈥� middle infielder Roughned Odor.
But in case you haven鈥檛, let me break it down for you here. Late in Sunday鈥檚 7-6 loss to the Rangers, Toronto star Jose Bautista (on base after being hit by a pitch earlier in the inning) slid into second base hard to try and break up a double play. Odor - at the time playing second base for the Rangers - caught the ball for the force out at second base and threw the ball (wildly) to first.
Following the play, Bautista then popped up and Odor, angry, gave him a two-handed shove to the chest. Bautista went to respond in turn, but was rocked by a right hook from the smaller Odor.
This started a bench clearing scuffle that ultimately resulted in nothing but a few ejections, including one to both Bautista and Odor, and a whole lot of bad blood between two teams that already didn鈥檛 like one another in the first place (because of Toronto ending Texas鈥� season last year).
All caught up? Good.
Odor is what is wrong with baseball (well鈥� that didn鈥檛 take long).
Now, I鈥檓 not a Bautista fan. I think his ego is too big and his attitude is far too bad for him to be considered a role model for anyone.
But what Odor did is despicable. Pathetic. Thuggish.
Every baseball player knows that in a close game, you go down and try to break up a double play (if you鈥檙e close enough to do so). That鈥檚 exactly what Bautista did.
Sure, Odor has the right to be mad. After all, it was a hard slide into his legs.
He would be totally within the rules to swear at Bautista or trash talk him, maybe even taunt him a little bit.
I don鈥檛 even have a problem with the initial shove, purely because that鈥檚 a normal response.
The punch, however, was cowardly. There is NO REASON to throw a punch at someone in a baseball game. It is not hockey, nor is it boxing, the UFC or even professional wrestling.
It鈥檚 baseball.
Odor should be suspended. He will be of course, but I can guarantee it won鈥檛 be long enough.
He should be gone for a minimum of 15 games, having to donate his salary in that time to anger management charities or abuse charities, as well as attend anger management classes until his suspension is over.
He should also have to apologize, publically.
Not to Bautista of course, but to the baseball community for his brutish and irresponsible behaviour on the diamond. Children were watching, and they need to know that that is not a proper response to a hard slide at second base.
In the end it doesn鈥檛 really matter what I say; it鈥檚 what Joe Torre (MLB chief baseball officer) and Joe Garagiola Jr. (MLB senior vice-president of standards and on-field operations) say.
But I sincerely hope they throw the book at Odor for his actions on Sunday, and, just like Odor, they won鈥檛 regret doing it.
