It's pretty sad when the most exciting play of the game, make that season so far, is a ridiculous brawl that had its origens in, get this, 2014. Key Lines:
Giants Offense- Belt(.243), Posey(.340) and Ruggiano(.228) had 2 hits each. Arroyo had the only XBH, a double that kicked off the 3B bag. None of the were strung together to create any type of serious run scoring threat.
Matt Moore LHP- 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.98. Kruk was gushing about Moore's stuff in the first inning and it did seem to be good. He made a mistake pitch to Ryan Zimmerman and allowed another run late in the game but was mostly very good and gave the Giants a QS. This game was lost by the offense.
Hunter Strickland RHP- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 1.53. OK, Strickland dispatched the first 2 batters of the 8'th inning with ease which brought Bryce Harper to the plate with 2 outs. The last time Strickland faced Harper was in the 2014 NLDS. That's right, over 2 years ago! In case you don't remember, Harper got a splash hit HR and admired it for awhile. Strickland barked at him as he round the bases and Harper was shown on TV yelling and gesturing in the dugout. Nevermind that was over 2 years ago and the Giants actually won that series and went on to win the World Series leading Bryce Harper to become an outspoken admirer of the Giants organization. Strickland held his grudge until today when he nailed Harper on the right hip with one of the most purposeful of purpose pitches I've seen. Harper knew immediately what the deal was pointed his bat at Strickland and started for the mound. He first flung his helmet wildly then charged Strickland who had dropped his glove. It looked like Harper landed one clean blow to the face while Strickland landed 2 clean and one glancing shot followed by a scrum. Harper was pulled away by one of his teammates. It took 3 big Giants teammates to subdue Strickland enough to carry him into the Clubhouse, fighting all the way. At one point he was pushing and punching at Hunter Pence's face and head! Wow! Hunter Strickland was MAD and he is not a small guy!
Of course, after the game, Strickland denied throwing at Harper on purpose. I hope when he looks at video of the incident, he will realize he owes several of his teammates an apology. Sure was fun to watch, though!
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The Giants remain 11 games behind the NL West leading Rockies and 9 games out in the Wild Card race.
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Jeff Samardzija faces Gio Gonzalez in game two tomorrow evening.
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First of all, Harper lingered and Posey didn't touch him... Posey is way too smart - he knew what was up and knew Hunter wanted a piece of Harper, otherwise Posey would have tackled Harper before anything even started. Second of all, the weak helmet throw was bush league. In realtime I was waiting for a good old fashioned Nolan Ryan beatdown.
ReplyDeleteI love the move personally. It's baseball at its finest. Strickland plunked him right in the hip - not the head or face. He hit him with the first pitch, a fastball with purpose. All this whiny crybaby crap needs to end. Harper was a punk who stood and watched his HR travel 2 years ago and Strickland didn't forget, as no MLB pitcher would. Harper should nod his head as in "I got you, it's over now" and take his damn base. If he's that pissed and wants to charge the mound with a running start at a pitcher whose whole livelihood depends on his right arm, I say hit Harper again tomorrow. I'm sure The Shark wouldn't mind taking some swings on that little punk. Make that hip-bruise twice as big. Bob Gibson loves this highlight, btw.
Andy in OC
There are other possible explanations for Posey's actions…..er non-actions. I'd call it close to baseball at it's worst, worst being if Strickland had thrown at his head.
Deleteso now there's an issue with people admiring their home runs? If you don't want someone to admire their home run, don't let them hit a home run off you.
DeleteI could care less in it was intentional. I loved seeing Harper getting nailed in the hip. At least he wasn't hit on his 10 cent head. I can't stand him as a player by how he conducts himself. The guy is a hot headed, immature, jerk. Remember when after he yelled F--- You to an umpire during the teams winning celebration because he was ejected earlier in the game? I thought it was awesome that he got popped in the face. He barely even connected on Strickland. His right cross was weak. It would be great if this was a lightning rod for the season, but I doubt it. If anything, Posey is probably going to get nailed during the series. Your right though. Strickland owes Pence, Rags and whoever gets nailed by a pitch an apology. How about Morse and Shark colliding. LOL Talk about bulls in a china shop.
ReplyDeleteWell, Strickland says it wasn't so I just have to leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteAs for Harper charging the mound... Jesus, he's one of the biggest, self-centered ***holes in baseball and even fights with his own team-mates. So I am completely unsurprised at his reaction. But the best part is, is that he looked like an idiot doing it. The crappy helmet throw, the weak follow-up to Strickland's man-punch to his face followed his slap-punch. He looked completely owned out there. And now people are mocking him all over the Internet, turning him into a clown. Even at ESPN:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19493326/dear-bryce-harper-my-dude-were-thinking
…and if you believe Strickland, I have some property for sale. Kruk and Kuip aren't buying it.
DeleteThat's cool. I justs don't speculate on behavior. And unless he admits to it, I'm just going give him a pass considering it's been over two years and, frankly, that's way too long in my book to hold that kind grudge so arguments for beaning need to get past that.
DeleteWhile I respect everybody's opinion, I'll stick with mine. Strickland had no business throwing at Harper. Although it was stupid for Harper for charge the mound, 9 out of 10 batters would have done the same thing. Strickland endangered several of his teammates by his actions and owes them an apology.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Bryce Harper might be my favorite non-Giants player in baseball. He's a young superstar who is only going to get better. He's emotional and rubs some people the wrong way but you have to respect the intensity. It's part of what makes him so good. He loves the city of San Francisco and respects the Giants organization. I would have no problem with him coming to SF when he becomes a FA.
DeleteI'm right here with DrB. No doubt Strickland was int he wrong for holding some real old beef. I think it was a case of a young player (Strickland) making a promise to himself 2 years ago. He might be thinking that the fireworks he served up in 2014 post season are keeping him from being seen as an elite reliever... and he's probably right. His highlight reel is splashhits not big post season saves/Ks. Hopefully, he's not making personal pacts like that anymore.
DeleteReminds me of Jose Mesa and Omar Vizquel - although that was off-field shade going into on-field assaults. Hopefully this "grudge" will go away now.
If the Nats bean someone today, I hope it's Shark or Morse. They seem in for it.
Ditto. I wonder if he lost some respect for the organization today though. I wouldn't blame him if he did.
DeleteThis Giants season is quickly becoming a circus act. Yes, it was a lot of fun to watch the show play out yesterday, but my guess is Evans & Co. can't be too thrilled about one of their guys making national headlines for serving a 3 year old vendetta against one of the league's best players, on Memorial Day no less! A meeting with the brass is definitely in order for Strickland, who I think could be on thin ice with the organization at this point.
Cove Chatter
Wow, can't believe Strickland is getting only a 6 game suspension and Harper 4 games and they are appealing. Looks like MLB doesn't care if something as senseless as this happens again.
DeleteLG
If you are a baseball traditionalist, it's not senseless.
DeleteArchaic, maybe, or old hat if archaic is too, well, archaic, but that's the way baseball always was.
WAS.
Now, it's prima donna millionaires and billion dollar business suits who underscore why old we people should die quietly.
Once hit, Harper held the upper hand. He got to chose whether he wanted to play, protest, or piddle in his pants. He chose piddle and p*ss*d away any thought that he might grow up this decade.
Strickland shouldn't have carried a 3-year vendetta, he should have done it in 2015 then flashed the RING, but did he get that opportunity?
This was too choice for Strickland -- two outs, none on, down an insurmountable amount (more than 1 run), and he plunked him, or missed inside, waaay inside.
Fast balls hurled inside are lethal but pitchers need that, they need be careful, but they also must dodge 110-mph line drives hit at them, just ask Herb Score.
Bryce Harper could have been the adult in the room last night but he chose to show stud-li-ness, and got slapped on top of being hit. Poor baby, he'll be as obnoxious tomorrow as he is today, and was yesterday.
And, Doc, I've been a Giant fan a long time, and a baseball fan before you were born, and I will tell you this, if Harper becomes a free agent and is signed by SF, I'll become a Dodger fan! Or go back to the Cardinals which I once was listening to KMOX at night in the deep South.
Doc, agree with you about everything (except liking Harper on a personal level). Uncalled for. Stupid. Selfish. Three years later and you have to be dragged off the field by three team mates? Ridiculous. I think Harper knows it was Strickland was acting alone and it won't affect his view of the org, but they were never going to put up that much cash.
DeleteI've never said I like Harper on a personal level. I've never met him and if I did, there is a good chance I would not like him personally. I do like him as a player and I don't find his persona to be any worse than a lot of other players in the game. Seems like it wasn't that long ago the Giants had a certain superstar who a whole lot of people did not like on a personal level. I think most of us were pretty OK with him being a Giant.
DeleteI get that it's a part of the game, but I think Strick chose a poor time to do it. We were only down by two and we had two outs. IMHO, it was a selfish move. Choose another time. And besides that, if Strick would have been as precise at 98 MPH with the two pitches Harper took yard, as he was with the one he put on his hip, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this puts an end to it, and we can move in. If not, Posey's going to wear one at some point, and I'm guessing his teammates will be much quicker to defend him than they were Hunter Strickland.
In other, non-Strickland/Harper news, the G's called up Calixte yesterday in case Nunez goes on the DL. While I'd rather see Tomlinson or Slater because they're our guys, Calixte earned it. He's been playing well in Sac. I just hope they don't end the Tomlinson outfield experiment because I believe it will prove to be a success.
ReplyDeleteWell, Morse has a concussion, so Tomlinson gets the call.
DeleteWhen you have to work for something you appreciate how good it is.
ReplyDeleteBryce Harper may work hard, but he didn't create his talent and everyone has been giving him everything he wants since he first hit a little round thing with a stick and it went bye-bye.
Hunter Strickland didn't think this through but he must have smiled inwardly as Harper dug in. And he knew the moment he had been waiting for nearly 3 years had arrived.
Everything was so predictable since Harper watched his colossal HR in the 2014 playoffs soar into the San Francisco night. That was his moment. His life has been full of his moments, and then he was someone else's moment.
Perhaps the ball got away, perhaps Strickland just wanted to brush him back with a very straight very fast pitch at the belt, maybe he wanted to see Harper dance a little, gracefully as Harper does everything, maybe he didn't mean to throw it so hard, maybe he thought he was Bob Gibson and Harper was Dick Nen and there was THAT HR years before.
I only know after Strickland got his childish revenge, Harper could have pointed at him, could have been the man, could have won the moment, but that's so not Bryce Harper.
There was more than enough stupidity on display to to go around. I just feel bad for Michael Morse who suffered a concussion trying to help get Strickland out of the line of fire.
DeleteYeah,this was a selfish act on Strickland ' s part and it's too bad Morse got injured because of it. Judging the slow reactions of Giants players on the field, they weren't that fired up to join the brawl.
DeleteLG
One last thing (from me), if MLB is right with their lineup: 5 through 9, Ruggiano .228, Hill .103, Arroyo ,190, Hernandez .173, and Samardzija .095, why bother to play, and more pertinently, why bother to watch?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that is not a competitive MLB lineup there.
Delete