5/29 - 6/11 Game Discussion Thread

[SPTO]

I guess the Cubs are gonna be the lovable losers again.....

[DieHardYankee26]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

Yeah, Strickland started it, but Harper pointed his bat, charged the mound, threw his helmet, and threw and landed punches. And he's a repeat offender. I though 4 games was too light. Should have been 10 for Strickland and 7 for Harper. To have Harper's cut to 3 is even more absurd.

That ratio is awful. Bryce is going to play almost all of the Nationals games. Strickland is going to appear in less than half of the Giants. Strickland should get 2 or 2.5 games for every game Bryce gets. Also, starting it IMO should get more, so maybe even 3:1. I might've gone 10 to 3, or 15 to 5.

I don't know where to start the suspension with Bryce because I don't have a huge issue with what he did lol. The problem is we all know Strickland did that on purpose, but if Bryce hadn't charged the mound, would Strickland have been suspended, or even ejected? I don't think so, and he's out there throwing fireballs at a guy because his feelings are hurt. The sport is not protecting its players, Donaldson talked about this. As a batter, the only way for you to make it clear that you're not someone to throw at is to make the pitcher fear throwing at you.

[TheMatrix31]

I don't want stars to be protected. That's NBA/NFL bull**** and we see what's happened with those garbage *** leagues.

I don't really have a problem with what Harper did, but he *did* do those things.

Strickland typically pitches pretty often so 10 games would be a lot. He'd probably miss 5 to 7 appearances. Okay, so maybe suspend him 12 games and Harper 6. That works.

Ah hell, I don't really care either way. **** the both of them for giving us yet another bull**** drama to "care" about for days and days on end.

[Speedy]

Harper provoked the brawl but I don't entirely blame him or the reduced suspension...He was just hit with a 98mph in the hip bone and he's supposed to just walk to first? I'd be ill too.

IDK...MLB acts like it wants to cut down on this stuff then does nothing to curb pitchers from doing it. I think pitchers need to get a huge suspension of some kind, along with their MGRs, to stop this junk. Make teams think twice and suffer the consequence of trying to "hurt" another player. Strickland should've gotten 15 games and I'd be ok if the MGR got 5 games. Maybe that's harsh but this is just nonsense at the core.

I think it was Sutcliffe on an ESPN telecast Monday saying he was never told to hit another player until he got in the majors. MLB needs to start hammering down on this stuff, whether it's intentional or not. In the NBA, flagrant 2s aren't always intentional but there is a consequence and a suspension - I think that needs to be copied in some way in MLB.

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by Speedy

IDK...MLB acts like it wants to cut down on this stuff then does nothing to curb pitchers from doing it. I think pitchers need to get a huge suspension of some kind, along with their MGRs, to stop this junk. Make teams think twice and suffer the consequence of trying to "hurt" another player. Strickland should've gotten 15 games and I'd be ok if the MGR got 5 games. Maybe that's harsh but this is just nonsense at the core.

You can't do this because pitchers just won't throw inside anymore because of the fear of suspension in case one just happens to get away. There's no way the players would agree to those types of suspensions. It does seem that teams are starting to handle these things internally though. From Pedroia calling out his team for throwing at Machado, to the reactions from the Giants players this week.

Quote: Originally Posted by Speedy

I think it was Sutcliffe on an ESPN telecast Monday saying he was never told to hit another player until he got in the majors. MLB needs to start hammering down on this stuff, whether it's intentional or not. In the NBA, flagrant 2s aren't always intentional but there is a consequence and a suspension - I think that needs to be copied in some way in MLB.

This might have been Sutcliffe's experience, but I can guarantee with confidence that it's not the norm. I just saw a video of a coach of a 14u team telling his pitcher to drill an umpire in the mask with a fastball because they didn't like the strike zone. This mindset of pitchers "taking care of things" starts at low levels of baseball and permeates from there. Unfortunately there are too many bad coaches at the youth level that think this is a natural part of baseball.

[TheMatrix31]

It doesn't even happen enough to warrant any real discussion. What, like maybe 10 real "incidents" a year? Who cares.

Better than umpires and league offices having way more influence, being forced to determine intent, having more instances to enforce, leading to more inconsistencies and more controversy and more unnecessary scrutiny and garbage. Then you get **** like Gausman's ejection happening more and more, fundamentally changing ballgames much like the "two fouls then get benched for half a quarter" **** in basketball.

I don't want to give those people more **** to interpret. That stuff has made other sports completely impossible to watch.

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

It doesn't even happen enough to warrant any real discussion. What, like maybe 10 real "incidents" a year? Who cares.

The fan of the team that loses their best player when the pitch hits them in the hand or head and they have to miss significant time.

[TheMatrix31]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jr.

The fan of the team that loses their best player when the pitch hits them in the hand or head and they have to miss significant time.

That wasn't intentional. That was like their 7th hit batter in 3 games. I'm way more offended by ****ty pitching than intentional HBPs.