Thursday, September 2, 2010

Nyjer Morgan

Not that anyone is asking me, but I sure don't blame Nyjer Morgan for charging the mound after being thrown at twice in one game tonight against the Marlins. I understand why he got hit the first time (retaliation for his cheap shot hit on the Marlins catcher the previous night), and he didn't start a fight after that one, but then they threw at him again later in the game. What up wit that?

Apparently he broke some unwritten rule by stealing 2nd & 3rd with his team down by 11 runs after he got hit by a pitch earlier in the game. So what? Like a team has never come back from that far down? Every run counts, and the name of the game is to get yourself in a position to score runs. When a batter hits a home run after getting hit by a pitch his previous, we laud his determination. But Morgan isn't known as a home run hitter, he's a base stealer and run scorer, so he did what comes naturally ... he stole bases and got to 3rd base, where all sorts of things could have resulted in his scoring.

Don't get me wrong, I think Morgan is a bit of a punk, and he's definitely got some issues (he recently threw a ball at someone in the stands), but when the ball gets thrown behind you when you've already been hit by a pitch in the game, well ... he's sure not the first guy to charge the mound after something like that.

Would I rather have seen him get on base and steal 3 bases, including home, this time? Hell yeah. That would've shown 'em!