So if you are playing SS and the runner is charging into 2nd, what is he, 5, 10, 15 feet away? And you throw at his head? You know you could literally kill a guy or maime him for life? That is not cool. Your'e worried about where he starts his slide, yet you fire a baseball at his unprotected head from a few feet away? Say it ain't so 82. I've enjoyed reading a lot of your posts. You have some great thoughts. I didn't see this coming from you.
Goldy has been a Boy Scout out there. He probably got a little overzealous on the slide after being purposely plunked, for only one reason, he was making the Doyers' pitchers look like Little Leaguers. He did nothing else to initiate the plunk ( a few inches higher and it could have hit his neck or head area). Anyone who watched Mattingly's reaction could see he called the pitch. The Doyers were getting schooled by the DBacks and instead of playing better, they took the cowardly way out and threw at Goldy.
To me, that is the real issue, not his slide.
P.S. Thanks for being one of the few New Yorker's who follow the DBacks.
Yea... This is one of those areas of the game that doesn't get much discussion, but, is a constant part of the game. For a SS or 2B, you don't have any protection when turning a diouble play. Throwing at a runners head is one way to protect yourself by sending very important message to the opposition... "don't mess with me, or else"...
I still suffer the effects from more than a decade of being crashed into at second base by on-coming runners. My left knee is a great indicator of on-coming rain or when a low pressure system is coming through.
I wanted word to get around that I was the type of player who wouldn't hesitate to toss at the head of the on-coming runner.
As for Goldy getting plunked - of course it was intentional. THAT is as much a staple of the game as any other element of the game.
And, it's simply understood that the most accepted form of retaliation is for the pitcher to get beaned, or, the hot hitter from the other team to get beaned.
Of course, back when I played it was also much more common that a fight would break out. A fight was by far the best, quickest way to settle the issue. It was simply understood that after a brawl, the issue was over for the rest of the game.
Today, MLB has reached a point of seriously frowning on brawls... As a result, you have players (youngsters like Goldy), who aren't clear as to how best to resolve the issue of being plunked.
