Set 'em Up, Knock 'em Down

After watching the Cardinals and Astros empty the dugouts (and bullpens) twice in as many days, I found myself musing about the differing reactions of the umpires viz-a-viz the ballplayers, fans, and announcers involved; and the changes in baseball culture since the late 1970s.

Cards' skipper Tony LaRussa praised the umpiriing crew in this article; kudos to the "Men In Black" for stopping any possible fights before they got started.  Nobody got ejected; nobody gets suspended... as an erstwhile umpire myself, I can testify that umpires really don't want to have to fill out the paperwork required when they have to send the "boys" to their clubhouse for baseball's version of "time-out."

I can also testify that getting hit with a thrown or batted baseball hurts! (It's an occupational hazard for umpires; foul tips are no respecter of persons, and sometimes you simply can't get the heck out of the way of a line drive.) So, I can understand batters objecting to having baseballs whiz past tender parts of their anatomy. But the game's reaction has changed since the late 1970s.

Take Saturday's contest; Cards' catcher Jason LaRue gets plunked by 'Stros ace Roy Oswalt... ouch! LaRue takes his base without comment. Cards' hurler Adam Wainwright apparently took it upon himself to remind the Houston club that he also has a baseball that he can throw close to a batter's body; sailing a pitch well behind Brad Ausmus' backside in the following half-inning. Ausmus objects, vehemently; but is restrained by the umpiring crew, LaRue, and Astros' coaches. Now, had Ausmus complained, "Whaddaya throwin' at me for? I'm hittin' oh-freakin'-80!!!," he could have claimed the moral high ground. From my admittedly comfortable seat in front of the TV, it appeared to me that Wainwright's pitch sailed away from Ausmus, and never really got close to him. The Wagonmaker (sounds like the title for a '50s TV Western, doesn't it?) never says a mumblin' word to Ausmus, and the game continues without further incident.

On Sunday, fan "favorite" Brandon Backe got lit up for four runs and consecutive extra-base hits by Ryan Ludwick and Troy Glaus (First Homer As a Cardinal.. Hooray!!) When plate umpire Jim Joyce granted "time" to Yadier Molina just prior to a Backe pitch, the next delivery sails up under Yadi's chin.  Quoting from Matthew Leach's MLB.com article,

"I wasn't expecting it," Molina said. "I wasn't expecting that pitch that close, right in my face. If you're going to try to hit somebody, you've got to do it in the body. You can't throw it in the head. That's not professional. That's not baseball. That's not human."

Later, Leach quoted "Bad-Boy" Backe:

"I can understand him getting a little upset because it was so high," Backe said. "But I didn't try to hit him by any means. I'm trying to get in there. Part of the scouting report against him is to throw the ball inside on him and jam him.

"I think he overreacted as far as causing such a big scene. But I don't think that he shouldn't have gotten mad at me for throwing the ball up around his head. Like I said, I didn't mean to do that. But it's the game. That's just the way it goes. He can get as mad as he wants, but it wasn't on purpose."

Molina was still seething over the pitch after the game, and not apologetic for his reaction on the field.

"Overreacted, man? You see that replay?" he said. "He tried to hurt me. I'm 100 percent. That's not professional. If somebody is trying to hurt you, you're going to react that way. You react that way, you want to let him know that you're mad. You can't play with other players that way."

Nobody threw a punch, nobody got ejected... Although, when mild-mannered Cards' broadcaster Ricky Horton was surprised that Backe was allowed to continue, Backe's protestations of innocence ring a little hollow. There's a b-i-g difference between "in on the hands" and "up under the chin."

Twasn't always thus... the players used to police themselves back in the day; although "retaliation" was often fairly subtle... Bob Gibson used to throw over a batter's head to send a message that "decking" Cardinals' hitters came with a price. The batter would duck, the "message" was delivered; nobody got plunked, nobody got suspended, move along, nothing to see here, people...

Now, had the umpiring crew known of Backe's previous contretemps over Albert Pujols' baserunning, they might well have excused the Galveston native to the showers on Sunday. The two teams don't meet again until May 27 at Busch, and there's no guarantee that Backe will even pitch against the Cards in that series. If any batters are hit with pitched balls in that series, I suspect the cause will be an inside pitch that "misses" too far inside.

But if he did, and I was his mound opponent... well, in the words of Nolan Ryan (about Lenny "Nails" Dykstra,) "That young man needs a bow tie." And bow ties, as we all know, are worn right under the chin!

What do you think? Does today's "warning" system keep hitters safer, or not?