In Monday night’s game, it seemed possible that the Giants hit Cam Smith on purpose in retaliation for the Astros nearly hitting Wilmer Flores. What do Giants fans think of these sort of retaliation pitches?
Good morning, baseball fans!
The San Francisco Giants will be wrapping up their series against the Houston Astros later this afternoon. One of the down-sides of writing the morning articles is that I have to pre-write them, because they go live at the crack of dawn and I do not. Unfortunately, that means that they don’t always get to include the most timely information.
For instance, yesterday’s BP was all about predicting who will lead the team in home runs this season. Did I suggest Wilmer Flores? No. I mentioned him as one of the team leaders and proceeded to pick other players. What happened in Monday night’s game? Three-run home run by Flores to make me feel foolish.
So in keeping with the spirit of “yesterday’s news,” I wanted to use today’s BP to touch on yet another hot-button topic within the McCoven and the baseball community at large. And that topic is retaliation pitches.
During Monday night’s game, Flores was nearly hit by a pitch late in the game. In the bottom of that inning, Spencer Bivens hit Cam Smith with a pitch, leading the broadcasters and fans alike to speculate if it was retaliation. To me, it could go either way but my point here isn’t to speculate on that.
My point is more that retaliation pitches seem dumb. At least that’s how I feel about it. I know a lot of baseball fans disagree, and that’s fine. That’s kind of the point of these, to have discussions. But as far as I’m concerned, intentionally throwing a baseball at someone is dangerous.
It doesn’t matter if they’re aiming for the player’s thigh or somewhere else that can theoretically take a hit without too much damage. A lot of pitchers don’t have enough control over their locations in the best of times. So aiming at another player’s body with the intent to hit them? Nah. That’s not safe.
And I get it. There’s pride involved. There’s supporting your teammate in the way the game has taught you. There’s tradition. Whatever. That doesn’t make it any more safe.
Pitchers throw SO dang hard. I’ve seen the horrible damage an accidental hit by pitch can do. Look no further than what Ryan Vogelsong had to go through.
So with that in mind, it’s so easy for a pitch that was meant to hit someone in the thigh or butt to go wild and hit them in the face. Or hit them somewhere else unintended and break a bone. End a season. Or, Mays forbid, a career.
So that’s how I feel about it. If you want to show someone up, beat them. Don’t hit them. That’s the sportsmanship I was always taught, anyway.