Marlins-Nationals Brawl: Question?
According to what I've read - last night, after getting hit hard by a pitch- as retaliation for a home plate collision the night before, Nyjer Morgan took his base and then was able to steal two more bases. Two innings later, with Morgan at bat again, the Marlins' pitcher, Chris Volstad, intentionally threw behind him, because the Marlins felt disrespected by Morgan's base stealing - which threw Morgan into a rage as he bolted towards the mound and resulted in the "brawl."
I understand that Morgan's aggressive behavior is inexcusable, but doesn't he have the right to steal bases if he can? And is the baseball "tradition" of intentionally hitting a batter to get revenge such a great idea?
Nyjer Morgan is in the NFL
Which stands for Not For Long.
He is a marginal player with one of the weakest teams in the majors. He has committed numerous bonehead plays, like the one that occurred Tuesday, when he sacrificed the go-ahead run by trying to score from second on an INFIELD OUT. That was the play where the catcher was injured.
There may be an unwritten rule about not stealing bases when you are ten runs BEHIND, but it is totally dumb and should be discarded. The sensible rule, if even then, is not stealing bases when you are ten runs AHEAD. I believe it is about showing up the other team, and maybe about injuries in hard slides at second or third.
IMHO, where the Grouse's H is usually silent, a lot of these rules go back to before chartered flights or even airplane travel. The teams had to catch the next train out of town or else face long delays. IIRC (and there is always a first time), the shortest major league game was just under an hour in exactly those circumstances: the teams raced through the field changes and the at-bats in order to make the train schedule.
sagegrouse