5:57 pm: Duffey has agreed to a reduced two-game suspension, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press was among those to relay (Twitter link). He’ll sit out the second game of today’s doubleheader and tomorrow’s contest against the Indians.
4:38 pm: Major League Baseball announced that Twins reliever Tyler Duffey has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for “intentionally throwing a pitch behind Yermín Mercedes of the Chicago White Sox during the top of the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game at Target Field.” Duffey has elected to appeal his suspension, so he remains active pending the appeals process. Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli was suspended for one game and fined for the incident. Baldelli will serve his suspension during the nightcap of today’s doubleheader with the Angels.
It’s the latest development in the strange unwritten rules saga that has transpired between Chicago and Minnesota over the past few days. With the White Sox leading the Twins 15-4 in the top of the ninth on Monday night, Mercedes stepped in to hit against Minnesota utilityman Willians Astudillo, who had been called on to pitch a mop-up inning. On a 3-0 count, Mercedes swung at a 47.1 MPH Astudillo offering and hit a home run to center field.
After the game, Chicago manager Tony La Russa called out his own player, saying Mercedes made a “big mistake” swinging at the pitch (via Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “I was upset because that’s not a time to swing 3-0. I knew the Twins knew I was upset,” La Russa told reporters. … “He missed a 3-0 take sign. With that kind of lead, that’s just sportsmanship and respect for your opponent. … There will be a consequence he has to endure here within our family. It’s a learning experience.”
Mercedes, though, was publicly backed by a few of his teammates. Chicago starter Lance Lynn commented on the situation (via Chris Emma of 670 the Score), saying “there are no rules” when a position player is on the mound and noting the sport’s unwritten code of conduct has been relaxed in recent seasons. (La Russa, when asked about Lynn’s comments, said he “(doesn’t) agree” and noted that “Lance has a locker. I have an office,” in reference to his status as the club’s manager). Shortstop Tim Anderson, meanwhile, posted “The game wasn’t over! Keep doing you, big daddy” on Instagram, to which Mercedes replied “Yes sir, let’s do it, baby.”
It seems at least some members of the Twins organization also took exception to Mercedes’ swing decision. During Tuesday night’s game between Minnesota and Chicago, Duffey threw a first-pitch fastball behind Mercedes’ back. The reliever was ejected by home plate umpire Jim Reynolds, as was Baldelli. Duffey was replaced by Alex Colomé, who walked Mercedes on four pitches. Other than an innocuous hit by pitch of Jake Lamb by Twins starter Bailey Ober earlier in the game, no players were hit in either of the final two games of the series. No other players or coaches were ejected.
La Russa, for his part, continued to attract controversy after Tuesday’s game. He doubled down on his conviction that Mercedes’ decision to swing at the pitch was unacceptable and said he “(didn’t) have a problem with how the Twins handled it” when asked about Duffey’s pitch (via Ryan McGuffey of NBC Sports Chicago). La Russa’s public disagreement with at least of a few of the Sox most notable stars has drawn plenty of attention around the league throughout the week.
It’s a bizarre situation (particularly for how publicly it’s played out) that could continue to draw unwanted attention to White Sox players and coaches as the season progresses, given La Russa’s reputation as an old-school manager and the young Chicago clubhouse. If there is strife between the players and the coaching staff, it hasn’t seemed to affect the Sox on the field. Chicago has an AL-best 26-16 record.
Rocco should be fired for focusing on the wrong things
How about TLR being fired for focusing on the wrong things?
because he’s not the one telling Duffey to throw at a guy. oh and, clearly he’s also able to focus on winning games as well – standings.
Mercedes handled it wrong. He is proving to be a disruptive presence by coming to the park late all the time and his answer he provided to the media as to why he ignored the take sign was selfish. Again if Skip gives you a sign you follow thru on it. There is no excuse not to. Tony answered all questions on it honestly and I can see why it took Mercedes ten years to get to the Bigs.
all 29 other teams would be very glad to have him.
You just proved why your point is invalid. He took ten years to get to the bigs he’s going to be paid moving forward on how he did in games. Nobody is going to look at his stats at the end of the year and say “that home run doesn’t count because it wasn’t a pitcher and that’s not the old school way.” Grow up he’s trying to make a living and that homer and rbi will help his career moving forward. His job is to help his team win not play soft and don’t swing because he’s throwing 47 mph and isn’t a pitcher. Don’t like what he did? Make a mercy rule if it’s that big of a deal my god y’all on here can be so irrational at times. Can you imagine if tatis jr or Soto or acuna did this? We’d have a completely different story.
Ah yes, those disruptive folks in our society. Gotta make them do it our way. So tell me, PW8. What was your favorite hip-hop record of 2020?
I agree was LaRussa, and I think Mercedes should be suspended by the team.
As for Tim Anderson, what a disgrace, basically supporting Mercedes in ignoring a take sign. I think both players should be benched.
MLB and front offices need to do better job reinstating the status of managers in the chain of command. Bypassing the managers has done huge disservice to the job itself and its leadership.impact. A bunch of these young players have no sense of what that is, having never experienced that.
Cey Hey- In my comment Disruptive had to do with showing up late to the park over and over and not with ignoring a 3-0 take sign. Boss gives you an assigned start time you get there on time. What does that have to do with society or making people do it our way? We were playing in a strong 16″ B league and we got this guy who was an A league hitter to play with us First two games he came late and we kicked him off the team. Nobody said anything about society. Mercedes is a clown with his I gotta be me nonsense. He said he saw the sign. He was wrong to ignore it and should have said so. Maybe the 3=0 take is obsolete but if the manager gives you a sign you follow thru.
My music is from the 50’s and 60’s and I like Sinatra and those guys too.
@bravesiowafan –
Mercedes was given a take sign which he disobeyed and said he would again, that he’s not going to change. He should be suspended by the White Sox for a few games without pay for the length of that suspension.
@long time fan, as a long time fan you should be aware MLB players ignore signs all the time. The players are on the field they know there own strength and weaknesses. Guys steal bases and ignore the take call constantly.
So now it’s a race thing. OMG it isn’t about that. It’s a generational thing and nothing more. TLR is old school baseball. You may not like the “unwritten rules” but most were done out of respect for the game and your opponent. Having respect for someone else seems to be lost on most people today. I respect TLR for calling out his own player. He’s simply trying to get his guy to play so that the next time he decides to swing at a meatball he doesn’t take the next pitch to his hand and be lost to his team for a month. Jeeeesh. How about respecting someone else’s different view without baiting them.
Cey Hey: the hipster hip to the hip hop.
Do we have to have a favorite hip hop record of 2020? I’m kinda too old for it. Although I did see Public Enemy in 1990, I was really there to see Sonic Youth open up for them.
Imagine defending a manager who didn’t even defend his own player regardless of the circumstance lol
hitting .358+ has its privileges…
its the long term problem with him as he might be puig’d soon enough once that production dips…
he wont be singing those late to park stuff anymore and might begin listening to that old guy on the bench.
heard on radio yesterday that of the last 550 3-0 counts before Mercedes exactly zero swings were taken. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
I’ve no problem with TLR’s point of view, but as the teams manager I’d respect him more if he kept it in house. Him talking down about one of his players in the media is what is driving the media conversation. A simple “we handle things like this in house and do not discuss them through the media” would have shut the talk down immediately.
You’d still have “unwritten rules” talk, but nothing about his leadership or his players not listening to his leadership. Sox are playing well roughly 1/4 of the way into the season. If they want to keep it up, they cannot have team controversies going through the media.
You win the internet for the year! Best comment I’ve seen in along time! The trouble makers won’t get it
Thank you Dad
I wholeheartedly agree on my award of “Internet of the Year”
imo the only thing tlr did wrong was make it public, imo he should of took mercedes off to the side and told home what he did was not cool. cws have to face the twins a lot this year and rubbing in a loss is only going to come back and haunt the cws. tlr knows this as much as you hate your opponent you still have to respect them.
He wasn’t given a take sign. Watch the video. He was quick pitched. Why is it okay to quick pitch him 3-0 but for him not to swing?
The players are employees of the team. The team has hired front office staff to manager personnel. They then handed responsibility of managing the players to TLR. He is the acting supervisor and if the White Sox want to maintain their relationship between players, managers and front office they need to deal with their employee.
Do you expect to get a high five after disobeying your supervisor/manager? Or would you expect to be disciplined?
Why we treat professional athletes hired by a team, who willingly signed employment contracts, differently than you or me is mind boggling.
In the end what Mercedes did was worthless to the team. It only provided negative value, in terms of press, physical risk to one or more of their employees and potential loss of playing time if say a brawl started and CHW players got suspended. It would not affect the outcome of that game and only created added risk to himself and his teammates by taking a selfish action to pad his own stats.
@darkside more like 28 teams i don’t want mercedes on the cards he seems to a player first guy and not a team guy.
So the atmosphere of the game shouldn’t evolve over the course of time? I understand that the manager is basically the boss but consider the circumstances. This club had already established this culture (as many teams do) before Tony got there. He chose at his age to come out of retirement. The man has to adapt to how the game has changed, not try to perpetuate what it was. Also,if he has any issues with anyone on his staff or roster then it most certainly shouldn’t be played out in public which is yet another blunder on his part.
So Yermin disregarded a sign. Probably shouldn’t have but some people on here act like he crucified Jesus. How many times have you seen a base runner blow through a stop sign at third. Should they be fined or removed from the roster? Does what Yermin did really justify being thrown at? Maybe the Twins should worry about playing better.
Lol what? He chokes up and simplifies his stroke with two strikes. If anything he’s less selfish than most players.
Bullshit
Sorry dark side. I respectfully disagree with you. The Sox have won in spite of TLR. Not because of him. That roster deserves a better kind of manager. And maybe if Reinsdorf stops being the Joker, Rick Hahn will give it to them next year.
Lol
No, he just threw Mercedes out there like a piece of meat instead of protecting his player. What? he ignored a sign, and that is grounds for allow another team to try to injure him? What if they head hunted? Thats still acceptable? Yikes. No, you fine him, or bench him, not allow another team to ‘get their revenge’.
@IBMcG
Players that blow through stop signs at 3rd and get called out then get called out, sometimes even in public depending on the severity of the impact of the mistake.
@MrsPederson
After Adam Yauch died, hip hop just lost a lot of fun for me personally.
But as I am a single parent to a 17 year old: “Send Them to Coventry” gets my vote.
@cubs2016 name me a manger that’s available that is better than tlr, yes tlr could of handled this whole situation better but he has the cws in a good spot. like i tell my cubs “i’ve wiped more drywall out of my eyes than you ever hung” when it comes to bb tlr is the same.
Renteria. Done. Better than a racist dementia drunk.
How’d Phil Jackson do with the Knicks?
How about the replay booth being fired for not getting challenged calls right!
Mercedes swinging with astudillo pitching is completely fine especially when astudillo wasn’t even trying… but to think Rocco ordered anyone to throw at Mercedes is laughable. Duffey wanted to police it himself and threw the pitch. If the twins wanted to hit Mercedes they had ample opportunity before Duffey came in and after.
Thee unwritten rules are so stupid, Larussa is a clown, but there’s no way any suspensions should have come from this. It was one pitch behind his legs and nobody even got hit!
What a weird response all around.
It was a pitch behind him because the guy is a lousy pitcher, he wanted to hit him. Also, what if he was head hunting? People I guess fail to realize what a 94 mph pitch to the face does considering a Mets player got one earlier that night. You suspend someone because they decided to throw a baseball at someone instead of adhering to the actual rules of the game and trying to get it over the plate. You suspend Baldelli because a manager is responsible for his players and pitchers are not position players, a one game suspension does not do a lot. The point is to stop it from occurring again (though thanks to LaRussa’s bull#$%^ I would not be surprised if the Twins try again to hit Yermin in the next series knowing that LaRussa will apparently not care)
Most of the “unwritten rules” are about dignity, respect, and not showing up the opposition. Also about paying one’s dues. Those things used to mean something.
We’ve traded sportsmanship with selfishness. These guys are role models for kids, and they watch them to see how to play. People always say “let the kids play” but there is much more respect, discipline and professionalism at little league games in recent years.
“These guys are role models for kids.”
With all due respect, no they are not. Certainly not in my household. For real. For the most part baseball players have a high school education at best.
My son (who plays & follows sports) & I have had numerous talks about this. There is a very real mistake in turning professional athletes into “role models”.
Ya know?
Yes. I agree with you from a personal
values perspective. Not in my house either. We work very hard and intentionally to teach values to the kid.
But it is nevertheless true (for good or for ill) that athletes are role models, because media has an outsized influence on culture and on children. I have seen kids copy batting stances and complex high fives, asking for the same equipment, and copying eyeblack, and even spitting and blowing snot rockets.
@sportsguyo33 the unwritten rules are not “stupid” as you say the unwritten rules is about respect, which is lost on my generation and tlr knows that you have to respect your opponent and rubbing salt in an open wound is going to come back and bite you.
Yeah, its called be the better team and score more runs and stop the other from scoring more than your team. not you get to chuck a ball at a guys head cause you did not like that he crushed a homer of a guy (who is not a pitcher) throwing a 47 mph ‘pitch’
The way the Twins are playing this year, he’ll be hitting the bricks before the season’s out anyway.
I wish Tony La Russa was blacklisted by MLB.
bet he puts brandy in the Gatorade coolers.
Dudes a pathetic drunk
American Family Field
The fact that he worked with Joe Torre handling MLB discipline for a couple of years is pretty horrifying.
so what your saying is is Tom Wilson may have a career in baseball?
LaRussa is right, society needs to bring back respect of others, and elders and bosses and Police and should I go on?
I don’t want to see baseball turned into up another thug league like football which is unwatchable now.
The kid will be lucky if next time they meet if he doesn’t get one to the face. That’s what Tony is worried about!
What do you mean by a thug league? How many NFL players broke into the Capitol? You should have stopped the first sentence after “others”
Dear Dad-
Are we still talking about swinging at a pitch?
P.S. Is that child support check actually in the mail or were you yanking my chain?
-CB
@dad is this the same la Russa who tried to get out of a DUI by telling the cop “I’m tony fing la russa don’t you know who I am? Don’t you see my World Series ring” lots of respect there.
I think you forgot to put ‘back in my day’ somewhere in your comment.. Don’t worry dude, the kid is not on your lawn
I don’t agree with throwing at him, firing him is a little much though.
Pitchers are just going to keep throwing to batters whenever the batter (or their teammate) does something that upsets them.
Not if MLB treats assaulting a player the same way it treats violations of performance enhancing drugs.
That three game suspension should be 30.
I, too, would like to see much harsher punishment. Hurling a baseball at a player is dangerous and shouldn’t be given a slap on the wrist.
it didn’t even hit him. but i get it.
Though the Sox have done well so far this season, I am still concerned about them, and this is why. I hope this blows over after a few days and will be forgotten about, but something is telling me this team dynamic (old-school TRL vs new-school players) is going to fester throughout the season until it suddenly goes full-blown.
I hope I’m wrong.
the results speak for themselves – unless he intentionally tries to get in the way then things will go well. chances are most guys wolnt care about this within a week.
No. Things like this linger the entire season. He publicly shamed a player, then defended the other team after they threw at him.
If they hit a long losing streak, this could turn sideways fast.
these are professionals we are talking about here. you dont get to the highest level of your sport without being abld to ignore these things or thrive off of ill energy.
That’s turning into a toxic work environment.
Yeah, people can ignore it when they are getting the job done and having fun, but history is littered with examples of teams that become dysfunctional once the locker room turns on the coach. A radio host mentioned the Bears under Marc Trestman, and that is exactly what could happen.
Heck, the front office doesn’t even respect TLR. Hahn and KW have been in witness protection all season, and that is not their MO.
Isn’t a key trait of a strong leader keeping criticisms of team members confidential?
Head coaches and managers typically aren’t too successful in the modern world by openly criticizing their players to the media.
It’s poor management skills, no matter what type of team a manager, leader, or coach runs.
Normally I agree with you on things dark side but your way wrong here. There were already concerns bout TLR before the hire, and specifically about how he will handle this new culture. So far I’d his remarks further solidify how detached from the real world he is. He’s already started to divide his clubhouse over something so stupid. He’s playing with fire trying to mess with this young core. Notice the people who stood up against TLR in that club. They are the same people everyone was worried about TLR would piss off.
He kept steroid use on his A’s teams confidential.
given the team’s record those issues havent meant anything yet.
bravesiowafan, It’s all about controlling the new culture with many so-called fans. There are people who fear the flair of some of these players will make something disappear in America. It’s a ridiculous but scary notion, but here we are. One person who posts here wants Acuna, Albies, and Ozuna off the Braves, yet just yesterday defended Freddie Freeman’s inconsistent start when I called him out on it. This person hates Acuna and Albies. How can any Braves fan hate those two players? How can any baseball fan? To those people, TLR is a hero for all the wrong reasons.
So if those issues don’t mean anything yet why is the whole baseball world stuck on this? The teams talent has nothing to do with TLR they were good without him last season.
The dumb ass swinging at a 3-0 pitch with the take sign is not a professional
@cey hey
Baseball is eternal, it will outlast all of us. But the game belongs to whichever generation is currently playing it. The game is played differently than it was forty years ago, and it was played differently in the 1940’s and 50’s than it was in the 80’s. Forty years from now players yet unborn will have their own ideas about how it should be played. Leave them be and let them do what they want, their time is fleeting.
@darkside830 you have a great point and i believe there is a saying for this “winning cures a lot of ailments”. next week this will be a non issue and tbh i don’t understand the hate for tlr he’s actually won and dusty baker who has destroyed pitchers and never won a chip is loved.
@DarkSide830
They would have more wins without TLR. The guy is allergic to pitching changes and pinch hitters.
I hope Mercedes does it again and walks into the dugout and punches LaRussa in the nose.
after punching Rocco and Duffey
Agreed.
@Joe Says.
I’ll look forward to the arrest of Mercedes for assault, and long suspension by MLB without pay if he’s stupid enough to commit the felony you wish for. .
He could just tell Tony that he was drunk. I’m sure he’d understand.
Maybe the Twins shouldn’t put a guy throwing 47 mph on the mound if they don’t want to give up home runs. La Russa and the rest of the fossils in MLB that complain about the unwritten rules are so out of touch. Punishing your own players for being fun and exciting is bad for the team and baseball at large.
This is perhaps the worst take on this. Though I’m not a La Russa fan per say, I get why he would be upset with what Mercedes did. The team was up by a dozen runs and the first goal should have been to get off the field to avoid any unnecessary injuries. However, what is worse is he did not listen to the manger. What’s the use of having one if player are not going to follow directions. If I were LR, I’d fine him and not play him for a game or two. Finally, LR is also correct because on responsibility of a manager is defuse potential conflict both with other teams and internally. If I were a pitcher on the Twins, I’d throw the ball at his fing head to prove a point for further embarrassing us. Besides not listening, I think this is what LR was looking to avoid since these players have massive amounts of pride and are about a competitive as you can get. Why give the Twins a calling to up their game against you in the future?
TLR should be happy that his players are playing well. if you dont want injuries to happen then just forfiet all your games. and if youre trying to diffuse something, why does he then say that the Twins were in the right to throw at Yermin?
If the Twins didn’t want actual baseball played they could have forfeited at any time.
Please.
I find managers basically waiving the white flag by pitching position players far more offensive to the game.
If you put in a guy who has no business on the mound, the opposing batters have no obligation to treat them with the same respect as regular pitchers.
Don’t want guys to hit 3-0 pitches in meaningless games? Don’t end up in meaningless games.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the danger of throwing a 47 MPH lollipop to a behemoth like Mercedes. When throwing batting practice, whoever is pitching is behind a net for protection. A come-backer to the mound could take your head off.
Dark Nihilus – You do realize the fastest way to get off the field in a lopsided game is to make outs and it’s easiest to make outs by swinging the bat…Taking a walk 3-0 lengthens the game.
Also get your pathetic head hunting takes out of here. No one deserves to have their head thrown at. Especially not “because you were embarrassed.”
Coming back out and winning the next game is better pay back then sending a dude to the hospital because “your feelings were hurt.”
@CrookedAsstros
It’s emblematic of why our our country is falling apart – a lack of consideration for others, instant gratification, me-first, lack of self control, which is exactly what Mercedes did.
Most of us are against turning the game into a “look at me “ game. If you want that you have the NFL and NBA
Actually, @Dad, the NBA has a lot of “unwritten rules” too, especially with not trying to show up the other team in a blowout. You take out your starters and you do not do windmill dunks and 3-pointers in the last minute. And almost all these guys are under 35.
Dad – Define most? Young fans, the ones who actually matter for the future of the game want to see the emotion and showmanship. Baseball can’t thrive catering to the golf audience.
This is what happens when you hire a 75 year old man to manage a bunch of 20+ year olds. Surely won’t be the last “disagreement” between LaRussa and his players. Congrats on having an office, Tony.
Those 20 something year olds have how many championships to Larussa?
Asking for a friend
How many DUIs do those 20 something year olds have compared to LaRussa?
Asking for a friend
Major Burn. Also, what decade are you asking about in regards to the championships, wiseguy?
Championships (for players on active roster): Adam Eaton (2019 Nats), Dallas Keuchel (2017), Lance Lynn (2011 Cards w/ LaRussa), equaling 3.
Championships for LaRussa: 1989 A’s, 2006 & 2011 Cardinals, equaling 3.
Those players are all 30-somethings.
Well then, LaRussa 3 championships, 20-somethings 0 championships.
baseballpun –
20+ somethings would include those over 20, including the 30 somethings. Perhaps you missed the + sign. Yermin Mercedes, the player at the center of this all, is in his 20’s
Rocco Baldelli is a first class puss for the way he handled this. I’m not a big Charlie Montoyo fan, but thank God the Jays hired that TB coach instead of the welfare case the Twins got.
LaRussa is an embarrassment to mankind. He is last person who should be acting like a rule follower. Maybe he popped a few before his press conference. I doubt there is a manager more hated by his players. Should be fired
I am probably in the minority here but I am old school and agree with Larussa. Up by that many runs you don’t swing in that situation just like if he took a walk do you then steal a base to get in scoring position? Its all about stats and not sportsmanship. That’s my opinion. Would be nice to quit hearing about it though. I just think its different now than it was 20 years ago.
i mean, how much does it matter? if the opposing team wants to give up and put a position player on the mound then they can forfiet.
I’m a firm believer that he did nothing wrong. I have three reasons:
1. Baseball does not have a clock like other sports. Is it unlikely the twins would have tied the game? Yes. Is it unheard of? No. The giants scored 9 runs in one inning today. It happens.
2. The game turns into a joke the second a catcher is put in to pitch. The twins started the poor sportsmanship.
3. In 5 years when Mercedes can be a free agent, what’s more important? His overall stats or his “poor sportsmanship”?
Ask Puig.
Don’t steal second is completely different. No way would I ever ask a hitter to “give” away a strike. That’s completely different than not “taking” an extra base.
Putting in position players to pitch is not good sportsmanship. It’s quitting.
You are getting upset with the guy who wanted to compete, over the manager who threw in the towel.
Wrong. It is preventing your pitchers from getting hurt in a meaningless game. It happens in many sports: and called “garbage time”.
And the batter wasn’t interested in competing. It is not competitive to hit a home run off of a 2nd string catcher throwing 47. Its disrespectful, and just padding stats. It is also not entertaining. I feel bad for anyone that was thrilled or excited by that home run, because it’s like enjoying someone getting kicked when they are already down and out.
Xtraflamy – You’re telling me you saw 0 entertainment value in what amounted to a beer league pitch and beer league swing? I couldn’t get enough of that home run given the physical attributes of the 2 players.
That home run is good for more content and driving interest in the game than 90% of hits.
Then start a petition to have MLB adopt a 10-run rule.
If you are concerned with pitcher pitcher safety, and players having their feelings hurt because players wish to swing the bat, adopt Little League rules and end the game, and give out orange slices at the end.
Otherwise, batters are under no obligation to throw away their at bats because the opposing team wants to quit.
If you don’t want guys hitting off of position players lobbing the ball, don’t get beat by more than ten runs, or don’t put in position players.
Maximum…NAILED IT.
Quit whining and expect better.
Your team gets shellacked? A 47 mph ball gets launched? Then that team should figure out a way to get better.
Because I don’t see “front office” refunding games that were played “that hurt the feelings” of some scrub that cannot throw harder than 47 mph.
At the very least? Bill Veeck would have said “team sucked last night. How about half price or free admission to the next one?”
Today’s players are coddled too much.
They make too much. And certain fans expect too little.
Now…some “fans” (literally) want a 10 run mercy rule?
Lol.
Today’s baseball. Fan base is so watered down to accept it. So baseball only gives them worse baseball at a more expensive rate.
You reap what you sow.
Maximumvelocity here NAILED it. 100 percent.
There is no unwritten rule. Quit whining when a multi millionaires feelings get hurt and demand your team get better…or quit paying for them to get worse.
Yermin Mercedes is a rookie making a minimum salary. When he is eligible for arbitration they will look at his stats and only his stats. Statistics mean something, unwritten rules mean nothing.
Tell that to Puig.
Kids in middle school throw harder than Willians was in that blowout game. If you’re putting in a guy on the mound who’s essentially tossing batting practice it and not even trying to throw hard (aka Austidillo and his 50 MPH fastball), you’ve given up, waived the white flag, thrown in the towel. Giving up is less sportsman like than taking a pitch.
Correct!
Am I understanding this correctly? La Russa didn’t have a problem with another team throwing at his player?
Jonbluvin –
LaRussa has long been known for telling his pitchers to throw at the other team’s batters. Apparently it’s just fine to fire a 95 mph projectile at another human being.
You all asked for it, so here’s my opinion:
(1) It’s classless to swing at a 3-0 pitch from a position player in the 9th inning when you’re up by 11.
(2) If you don’t want to get embarrassed on the field, don’t suck.
(3) LaRussa needs to get over it.
(4) The Twins need to get over it.
(5) If the “take” sign was deliberately ignored, though, that is a problem.
(6) Hitting a HR off a utility man in the 9th inning of a blowout isn’t what I would call being “fun and exciting.”
auto-taking a pitch is more exciting then hitting a HR?
Is every HR exciting? I just don’t think this kind of thing is the same as playing with exuberance or joy or passion or whatever you want to call it.
im just saying relatively. maybe not exciting for a HR but still moreso than anything else that could have occured in that AB.
I guess I’m just saying that I don’t see this as old man La Russa stomping the fun out of the game. He’s blowing this out of proportion and the whole unwritten rules thing can be tiresome, but I don’t think this is the same as getting mad at someone for flipping the bat after hitting a go-ahead homer or something.
I’m spending way too much time commenting on something that I really don’t care about that much. I think the reflexing hating on La Russa is over the top, I guess.
What’s with all the nuance? This is too complicated. This type of opinion is liable to make some heads explode. Keep it simple: Old man bad. Young man good. Swag. Chains. Fam. Bruh. Ya’ll.
Your wrong, all your swag an stuff will get you nowhere, That dude you’re trying to defend would not give you the time a day. Young man should learn from old man. It’s worked for thousands of years and now all of a sudden it’s a problem? And look at the hell with it it’s causing , love those inner cities
That home run. Was pretty exciting. How many times do you think that video was shared because of the players and the speed of the pitch? Heck of a lot more than some generic homer from a generic game.
Pink Eye likes to tell everyone about his unwritten rules.
Whatever. Swing away kid!! Minny! Put a pitcher on the mound and shut up!
I believe in most of the unwritten rules of baseball, but I don’t understand this one. Hitters don’t give away ABs and hitters don’t give away strikes. If a pitcher groves a pitch, hit it.
What if he’s not a pitcher, though?
I more or less agree with La Russa, but it’s a dumb hill to die on and he seems to be belaboring the point. I don’t think the Twins have a right to be upset though – it’s not Chicago’s fault they suck.
A batter doesn’t give away ABs. Those ABs are documented until the end of time. And when you give away a strike, you give away part of an AB.
I agree. Why keep playing the game. I was taught to hit 3-0 because you know you are getting great pitch to hit.
yeah, unless some guy has just walked another few guys on 4 pitches you have to be thinking there will be a strike.
The problem is not that he hit a homer is that he swung at a 3-0 pitch. If the count is 3-2 completely different. Take the free base Mercedes and shut up. U swing at pitch u get plunked. It’s easy and it’s a dumb move by Mercedes. He should know better and if he can’t learn to be a pro he will end up in Mexico playing with another idiot who can’t play pro team ball and that Puig
he doesnt get a free base if the 4th pitch is right down the middle.
This is LaRussa telling the young kids the right way to play the game. Going public is one way to make sure they are listening. Its not a bad thing to be respected by the other teams. Just ask Houston.
If the count is 3 and w the guy might accidentally make a good pick and the you give away an AB.
Swing at the pitch.
I’m sure he will survive that 47 mph “plunking”.
Doubtful he is even worried about it…even if it comes again from a real arm…that can throw it faster than the JV Girls Softball Team of Franklin Regional.
All part of the game.
Play better Twins. That’s it, Fort Pitt
LaRussa seemed to rubber stamp retaliation against his own player. Doesn’t that also deserve a suspension or penalty.
Now, I’d have no issue with LaRussa disciplining his own player for ignoring the take sign. Perhaps LaRussa in his own way was trying to deescalate a potential beanball war by acknowledging his player was wrong, telling his own players not to retaliate, and move on.
Someone should tell Tony that being under the influence of alcohol while operating a motor vehicle is against the actual written rules of society.
I’m one on the few people that think driving at .08, is a lot less a danger to society than 50 other things bad drivers do…but it IS against the rules that matter.
I wish I could give your post five thumbs up.
Halo11Fan has a lot of terrible takes on MLBTR but I think saying drunk driving isn’t a big deal actually might by the worst I’ve heard.
Drunk driving is a very big deal…. it’s worse than texting and driving.
LaRussa has a drinking problem. Halo11Fan has a thinking problem.
.No, I’m saying the difference between point .05 and .08 is insignificant. At neither level are you drunk. I’d much much much rather be driving next to someone .08 than on a cell phone…for example. There are many things more dangerous in a car than drivers driving at .08. But the line has to be somewhere and it is against the law.
You are probably too young to remember when the law was .10. So does betting .08 make you a better driver 30 years ago when it was legal.
People need discernment. But discerning people are few and far between.
Is Halo11Fan actually Tony LaRussa?
Intimate knowledge of DUIs, out of touch opinions, doesn’t understand how numbers work… hmm I wonder.
.08 is legally intoxicated. I’m glad you have a different opinion that it should be .10. How about don’t drive on your phone and don’t be drunk?
Seems like this should not be a hot take.
As I said, people don’t have a lot of discernment. If Ron Cey was driving home after a Dodger game in the 70s and his BAC was .08.,
would he have been drunk? Would it have been Illegal? The answer is to both is no,
But today, the clueless call that drunk. Not a lot of common sense from some people.
The line has to be somewhere, .08 is fine. You are impaired, just like you are impaired at .05. The person on that cell phone talking is more dangerous. But since that’s you, you won’t call it what it is, a hazard to society. That seems to be too difficult for some people to understand.
I never said it should be .10. As I wrote, not a lot of discernment on this board.
Your initial take of driving under the influence was correct. Drunk is a pejorative term, not a legal term. And if .08 is your standard for being drunk, then you have zero discernment. But if you drive a car .08, it is against the law.
I wish the would punish cell phone drivers just as badly…they are ore dangerous.
I don’t know who you think defended driving while on a phone but you seem really hung up on this imaginary person.
The law change reflects that .08 is the average blood alcohol level that impairs motor skills and judgement. Studies done on the subject showed traffic collisions were greatly reduced based on the data.
I can link you to the Department of Transportation website on the subject if you need to learn about this.
No one cares that you personally think it should be .10.
And I have no problem with the law. I would not label him as drunk, but what he did is illegal, and since I have discernment, my response to his “sin” is different than if he was driving .13.
The cell phone user is not an imaginary person. Do you drive? I wish the cell phone killers were just my imagination.
It’s not that the .08 driver is punished too severely, it’s the cell phone driver, and other infractions, are not punished enough.
Why is one demonized, while the others are hardly condemned at all?
Finally, if you are .01 and under 21, there is a zero tolerance for alcohol. So are you drunk at .01?
As I said, not a lot of discernment.
@Pangolin –
Well Said!
Cool conversation to have with yourself. Let me know what the phantom person who is defending driving on a cell phone replies.
Congratulations Halo11Fan, you are my first official use of the Mute button.
Not a .08 it .75 a beer
Wish Duffey plunked Mercedes – great job teaching lessons on both managers and hope the kids grows up and gets his head in the game!
Mercedes did nothing wrong.
That you saw what he did but don’t understand why it was wrong is quite telling.
And i hope mercedes charged the mound with his bat if Duffey hit him.
This “Kid” is a 28 year old rookie who has fought tooth and nail to get to the big leagues. He’s been in pro ball for over 10 years, including with some independent league teams. Let him have his fun.
Yeah, would have been great if Mercedes was plunked and knocked out of baseball right? I mean that would show him. Losing his career to a BS unwritten rule and ignoring a sign. Normally I’m not one to call people names in forums, but you sir are a meathead. He ignores a sign, you fine him and/or sit him immediately, you do not put him out there for the other team to determine the punishment. Throwing your players health and welfare under a bus for the feelings of another team and an unwritten rule is not the mark of a good manager or good baseball for that matter.
I gotta give props to Koogs, his twitch chat, and Jomboy Media and Jomboy Media Baseball for all the info they’ve given me on this topic.
Tony LaRussa will gladly pay the fines in exchange for a ride home.
Will Uber drive him thru that area of Chicago? Drunk or otherwise?
Am sure they can abide ol Tony tippin’ one back.
But thru Chicago? In that neighborhood? (Uber driver would rather drive thru the Bowery, methinks).
And what happens if the Twins score 12 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the game?
Giving up is just stupid….
The Dodgers nearly blew a 13-run lead last week.
They nearly blew it to the Angels.
Yes, even worse.
On that? We (finally) agree.
If the Dodgers can nearly give a game away to the Angels…then couldn’t them Twinkies have attempted a comeback too?
They didn’t. They threw in the (probably an “unwritten rule” for it too) proverbial towel.
They…gave up. Wiffle Ball Time!
LaRussa is a jagoff. Always was. And he bullseyes his own player for doing what players are (supposedly…unless your name is Jeff Mathis or Chris Davis) taught to do at an early age. Hit the baseball.
Regardless if the game is 7-1, 15-1, 22-1. You still gotta play all 9 innings.
And if the opposing team that got slaughtered…don’t like it? Then the cure is very simple. Stop playing so bad.
If you can literally PLAY the watered dowb version of “today’s baseball”, make millions upon millions to bat .225 w 12 HRs in fields so small a “sand wedge” could hit it into the upper deck…well, then I am sure those little babies will sleep just fine w their guaranteed salaries and (even if they got plunked….ooooh the horror! A baseball player got plunked?) Lets run for the hills. A round object may hit me mommy.
Babies. All of them.
And LaRussa is “King Daddy Mommy” of them all.
Whined forever in St. Louis when no one else thought “batting the pitcher 7th or 8th” was an actual strategy (just a curiosity piece). And now…he is still trying to “show off the I’m Fair flair…because he is too stupid to still realize ‘ya don’t drive drunk”. (He got off anyway. Everyone knew he would. Slimy lawyer…lotsa money. Pay off. Baseball don’t care. Why should they?)
But LaRussa “cares” about unwritten rules? I see.
How about the WRITTEN rules Tony…that ya don’t drive drunk and then (as a manager) put your own team’s best-interest on the back burner.
You manage the White Sox, Tony. Focus on that.
You win the division…then we will care (maybe some will, I sure as hell won’t) about your point of view.
Til then Tony. Shut up. White Sox ain’t won nuttin yet. You need to trample the garbage teams (like the Twins) as many times as you can. Because when the time comes when you play REAL teams? They won’t be tossing Jeff Mathis out there to throw 47 mph grapefruits). Nope.
You’ll be having…a game.
Best thing about being a “Pirates Fan”? (Yes Cey Hey…I know you hate me for being one)…but it is this.
The Pirates (yep…they suck. We all know that) at least have retained the “art of the beanball”
If they feel so hurt and embarrassed? DRILL somebody. Peg em. Zing. Right in the back
Then scrap it out.
It’s how the game is played
‘Old Time Hockey! Eddie Shore!”
But this “unwritten rules crapOLA” is just that.
CrapOLA.
Play to win. Or don’t play at all.
Shut up and play the “right” way. It’s pretty obvious where LaRussa is coming from and there’s nothing attractive about it. Gotta get that “flair” outta the game so it won’t corrupt our youth.
Way to go La Loser, lose the clubhouse…..
As any hitter up at bat, you get a meatball your smashing it! Rare to see a 47mph ball coming at you NOT AS A KNUCKLEBALL! Swing away Mercedes! And LaRussa needs to go back to AA! He’s still in denial.
We can end this with a simple rule:
After 7 innings if a team is ahead by 10 or more runs the game is over
No position player pitching etc
Done
The manager (La russa), may be old, but he is winning games, I guess some of you think age is an impediment to being a successful manager in the bigs.
The players might be young but they are winning games. I guess some of you think you have to observe the unwritten rules to win games in the big leagues.
Tony should shut up now. Your team has the best winning percentage in the American League. The players already think you are a fool.
Yeah, at this point Im hoping the Sox players goal is to win it all to spite him and not tank to get him replaced. In any case If I were the Sox management Id be asking why Yermin was in there the very next game if he was going to be punished by LaRussa, One would think that you would then bench the guy the very next game or two or three, I guess he forgot to mention he’ll put his player in harms way and let the Twins dictate the punishment
I guess since we are adopting softball rules, 10 run lead after 7 game over, mercy rule? After all, we don’t want anyone’s feelings to get hurt.
This is ridiculous. Tell me the losing team is going to stop trying to score as soon as the opposition has a 5 run lead and then all players just stand like statues. Let the pitchers pad their strike out stats at the expense of hitters’ batting stats.
Now, if the ‘take’ sign was given and ignored, that’s a team fine.
Boone said that and I barfed upon learning off a Boone saying such a thing.
Twins and La Russa are such a bunch of whiners
Every homer counts when it comes to arbitration.
Hitting a player should get you on 2B. Maybe then pitchers will think twice about hitting players.
michael jordan decribed it best. in the nba, if we’re up by 20, we try to make it 30.
The “unwritten rules” of baseball:
Rule 1: if you are an old white guy with lots of connections to other old white guys you can commit crimes, such as driving drunk and crashing your car, and still get a job running an MLB club even though there are THOUSANDS of other qualified people out there.
Rule 2: instead of focusing on the fact that your team, which was supposed to win the division, is performing really badly under your incompetent leadership you have your pitcher throw at a guy who is performing well after being held back for 10 years by other incompetents.
Rule 3: whenever someone brings energy and excitement to a stale, dying game make sure to bring out the old white guys of yesteryear to tell us all (mostly people of color) about the “unwritten rules” of baseball and life and remind us about the exemplars of those rules, like Marge Schott, who was your good friend. Then have some beers and go for a drive.
Baseball will be fine without you
Whatever justified criticism there is directed at Mercedes for ignoring a take sign or the “unwritten rule” thing, the way TLR handled it was so bonkers wrong, making such a big deal about something so petty and insignificant, that it is inexcusable. Unwritten rules? How about the “unwritten rule” of handling something like that in-house, rather than telling the opposing team PUBLICLY in a show of self righteous arrogance and stupidity that it is OK to retaliate by throwing at one of your players, before they even do. If he had handled it quietly, talking to Mercedes directly without blabbering to the press and putting his players down to feel better about himself, even if the Twins retaliated as they did we would not be talking much about this at all. The only point TLR has really proved is that he is an arrogant stooge who players and fans alike wish was not managing this team.
This just out by Simon & Schuster! Tony La Roids’ Unwritten Rules of Life & Baseball
Get yours today in the same shoppe where you can also buy Donnie Rump’s The Unwritten Rules of the Grift
Have a peak at the contents:
Rule 1: old white guys write the unwritten rules of life and baseball;
Rule 2: when exciting, fun players of color doing their job do something fun and exciting old white guys make sure to use violence against them to put them in their place.
Rule 3: when white players break the unwritten rules of life and baseball, like when they use steroids to hit homers, old white guys who control it all say: good job!
Rule 4: whenever I see people of color whining about cops I think about how I can drive drunk, crash my car, not get shot and still get the greatest job in the world where I, an old white guy boring and dumb and drunk, get to tell the world all about the unwritten rules of life and baseball while killing life and baseball.
@Ga –
Wow, you’re actually turning this into the race card.
You think Frank Robinson the manager, would have been cool with Mercedes ignoring his take sign and celebrating a 3-0 homer off an 47.1 mph pitch in a blowout?
Frank Robinson would have benched him.
@Ga you get bonus points for creative comedic rant, LOL!
Baseball will be fine without you
So what is the “unwritten rule.” You can’t swing on a 3 – 0 count, but if the pitcher throws a strike, then you can swing?
Do you have to take 3 strikes? This rule is ridiculous and if you want young players to follow it someone better write it down – because it will eventually be forgotten.
Cmon man, you gotta let those position players leave the league with a 0.00 ERA when they pitch in an inning, didn’t you know that?
Also allow the guy who has had countless DUI’s dictate whats a ‘rule’ too.
There’s a difference between swinging and trying to hit it to Mars.
Good.
0 and 2 “relievers” with 4.50 ERAs…SHOULD be suspended…INDEFINITELY.
Guy’s a scrub
Fact remains that the Chicago White Sox are the best team in Major League Baseball!
Celebrating a homer on a 47.1 mph pitch thrown by a position player in a blowout and ignoring the take sign, is utterly childish.
A mature adult would have, at the least, refrained from celebrating, and then publicly apologize for ignoring his manager’s and third base coach instructions. Let alone double down on the behavior and vow to continue ignoring the manager’s wishes. Terrible role model.
No it is NOT childish.
The Twins however…are.
And LaRussa waa dead wrong. (Guy is a jagoff. I thought “Scooter” Rizzuto was “worst HOF ever”.
Sheesh…was I wrong.
LaRussa takes the cake.
Twins wanna get a guy…OUT? Throw it harder than 47 mph.
My 8 year old throws it harder than that.
A travesty to the game.
Oh…and Tony LaRussa? Shut up you jagoff.
You don’t “win THAT ridiculous division” you are in? (What does “baseball gotta do”? Lap dance and give that division 4 other PIRATES teams to defeat…so you can “win” it?
KneeTaker/Apologist. Hiding behind the baby “PC unwritten rules” as an excuse.
Must be drunk…again Tony.
(Quit being all mad about something, just because you can’t “bat your pitcher 8th or 5th again” in your watered-down American League.
Crybaby Tony.
Guys a hack.
Fans of his? Write him a letter.
Guy was garbage as a player. He was GIFTED an entire team (Saint Louis) that even GENE MAUCH couldnt “blow a lead with”.
But LaRussa must be blowin someone these days. Cause “baseball” gifts him more ‘free crap’ than Bernie Sanders on an Informercial for ShamWow
When Rizzo struck out Freeman and they both laughed and Rizzo celebrated were they wrong and immature? You get paid off stats a d a comeback is always a chance. If you don’t want people to score more to embarass your team either
1. Actually put a pitcher in and try or
2. Forfeit and embarass yourself.
Otherwise you get what you get.
Don’t worry, he’s not on your lawn dude
I guess you forgot these guys play a childrens game for a living. By the way, ‘Childish’ is letting a 225 lb utility throw sub BP balls to major league hitters and assume his ERA will stay at 0.00
It was just a solo shot and he didn’t really celebrate it. Dudes a power hitter so he plays to his strengths. Been doing it since the start of the season, it’s his job.
Hopefully Jerry, Kenny and Rick have a sit down with Tony before he screws up a good thing.
If there were a mercy rule and the Winning team didn’t allow a hit, would it be a no hitter?
Tells ya all ya gotta know about “LaRussa”.
Gets mad at his own player for teeing off on one?
Larussa sucks. Retire please, Mister “Inventor of Bat the Pitcher 8th”.
You PUNISH a guy…who “hits a home run” off some position scrub…brought in…to simply “get the game over-with”? Lol.
Glad I wasn’t some dumb sucker who paid to watch THAT nonsense.
Wanna keep the ball IN the yard? Throw better.
Otherwise? QUIT the game.
My 9 year old daughter can “throw it 48 mph”.
What LEAGUE are you playing in “professional”?
The California Penal?
Tony LaRussa…shut up. And lay off the sauce.
White Sux…Injuns…Not Quite-Royals…Les Tigres and…The Twinks?
Lol. You BETTER Win (if you can literally CALL it that) “Division”…Tony.
Then again…”you lose it? And you will likely say: “you didn’t know the new watered-down/baby game Extra Inning Rule…because “you didn’t know the blood alcohol content level of READING a rulebook”?
Always some excuse…w Tony LaRussa.
So glad my team is D O N E.
Now can spend more time picking apart hacks like Tony L.
“The WannaBe Joe Torre” he is.
“The More Like Lloyd McClendon”…he is
As a Native American I would prefer you to use something other than injun to refer to us , even the term Indian is slightly better
If you can’t swing at his pitches – why not just have the position player start the game. Who determines what’s a blowout?
Exactly.. Heaven for fend that we hurt the other teams feelings (yknow like clobbering them 15-4 already did not do that already)
How is it that a guy who drives drunk and crashes his car gets a job in MLB? And how is it that that guy, who thinks it was OK for players he managed to use steroids — against the “unwritten rules” of BB — gets to tell others how to behave? We need to get rid of such dumb boring guys before BB continues to fade away.
No one cares about bat flips and home run cellys, regardless of what Twitter says
Why should a guy in the running for a batting title let his average suffer because the Twins gave up? Twins should have shown him respect by walking him.
So why should an nba player not go for more points to better his average when there are 10 seconds left and the defense isn’t guarding the perimeter? It’s the same thing. It’s because you respect your opponent when the game is over. I’m not saying you need to pick one side or the other, but that’s why people have an issue with it.
But that’s just it. The game is NOT over. Not until the end of the 9th in this case. I think we have seen enough in baseball to know that screwy stuff happens. If the Sox Bullpen all of the sudden could not get a Twins batter out and lost 16-15 I think LaRussa may have cared a bit more. Never mind he put a player in harms way when he knew he would get hit. What if the Twins pitcher beaned him? Knocked him out of baseball. I guess some slugs would like that, but NO one should be wishing that. LaRussa put one of his own players in jeopardy. (one may even think he did that on purpose) and that should not be overlooked by the Sox front office.
Very true, but it’s practically over once the position player is in. Again, I’m okay with a 3-0 swing on a pitcher and don’t really care on a position player. I am however a fan of most unwritten rules
The “let the kids play” idea isn’t a bad idea. But most people take it and think you can just do whatever and they lose all respect for the opponent. I’m fine with a 3-0 swing on a pitcher, but position player is just showing the other team up. The game polices itself with hbp and I’m totally fine with it ribs down. I love how hockey handles it with a fight. You don’t think there’s more chance for injury with the risk of falling on the ice vs a major league pitcher being able to control his fastball? Hockey players don’t get away with anything and I love it. Only thing I don’t like here is how TLR threw his player under the bus publicly.
So, basically by your reasoning every position player that goes out there to pitch to eat an inning should have ERAs of 0.00, or *GASP* we may hurt the other team’s feelings?!
Never mind that setting up one of your own players (by playing him the next day) to get plunked does not send a good message. Caring more about the poor feelings of a team that allowed a guy, who is not a pitcher, to go out to satisfy his own ‘dream’s and not your own player should scream ‘bad idea’.
I guarantee you that this is not over wither, knowing LaRussa could care less will just invite other teams to start plunking Sox players for more bull#$%^ unwritten rules and it will cost the Sox dearly. especially if the Twins try again (the Sox have a lot more games vs the Twins still) That’s not on the players, is solely on the coach.
Finally if this was really ‘he swung on 3-0’ then you punish a guy by benching him if he broke your rule, not putting him out there like a piece of meat when you know the other team wants blood.
Literally never said that. And you police the game. Every sport has it. Right or wrong, those are the rules and many people are okay with them
Im glad you prefaced that with ‘literally’ because saying ‘never said that’ would not be enough. Because that is fine, I never said you said that. I said by your reasoning of ‘showing’ up a position player who has no business being on the mound (otherwise he would be a Pitcher in the bullpen) that such players should never give up a run let alone a hit..
By the way, policing the game is done, they are called umpires, and the MLB rules book is the code (if its a good enough rule, its in the book, not only in someone’s head). Where is the rule that says you cannot swing at a 3-0 pitch from a position player who is clearly not a pitcher (let alone a pitcher)? Go ahead and find in it the rule book, Ill wait.
Sure he ignored the sign (reportedly) so Ok you fine him or suspend him, You again do not let a player get throw into harms way. Yermin did not bowl someone over or try to spike someone. He did not try to aim the ball back at the pitcher to hurt him. He swung his bat. Another player tried to take him out (which his own manager apparently endorsed). Which is the bigger offense, unwritten or not? (by the way that’s a bit of a rhetorical question but will tell volumes depending on how you answer.)
They forgot to suspend the coach that decided to let the guy ‘to be punished’ for his ‘antics’ play in the very next game. If you really want to ‘send a statement’ you bench the kid immediately for x games. Instead he is back in the next day, likely due to LaRussa knowing that Mercedes would get plunked and he put him out there anyway. I mean Come on. you are going to ‘punish’ this guy who is battling .350 and is arguably the best hitter on the team by benching him !? No, I think LaRussa knew darn well that Yermin would get hit by the Twins and put him out there to ‘prove his point’.
Lets put this in perspective, this is not Hamilton or Anderson doing this, this is a guy fighting for his job (and future) every day. When you see a ton of players, including those on his own team AND pitchers, all lament that he did nothing wrong that should tell you something. That LaRussa basically wanted Yermin to be hit in a game tells you something else. Sure he only got thrown at, but what if the pitcher decided to bean him with a 94 MPH fastball? Trying to get one of your own players hurt for some bull#$%^ unwritten rule is not any better than Yermin clobbering a position player’s gopher Eehpus pitch.
The worst part is if crap from LaRussa divides the locker room to ‘players’ vs the manager.
Bad moves by: the Twins for deciding to pull this crap as it’s pitiful and quite frankly dangerously stupid, Tony LaRussa who’s very much outdated as a manager and just reaffirmed it by practically condoning the Twins actions in public.
wasnt it st louis when larussa was managing, st louis was up by a lot in the 8th and a cardinal stole a base? Larussa or the managers comment was the opponents still have two innings of at bats.
Pretty interesting thread.
I find it notable that most of the posters bashing La Russa as some senile old dude probably voted for a candidate older than he is.
Hey.
I get it.
Academics & intellectuals have time to discuss “situational ethics”. But for the rest of us fellas it’s known as: Working With What Ya Got.
Here is a great article on Tony LaRoids & his “unwritten rules” nonsense. Just so y’all have some facts while parroting the criminally drunk’s old white guy’s boring attacks on his own team, which won’t be “his” team for long: nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/tony-la-russas-screwu…
Not a Sox fan, but it seems like the fans waited along time for this window of contention….Have to wonder as to why LaRussa was hired….is management/ownership inept or did they know something about this group others didn’t.
Somewhere…in Bimidji or Wheaton or “wherever Minnesota”…some Twins Fan is going “FINALLY…THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT MY TEAM MOM, ON THE TRADE RUMORS PAGE”.
I feel your pain Twins Fan. (I LOVE it when the Pirates do something colossally dumb…like ‘get up in the morning and try to play a child’s game.’…or maybe The Pirate Parrot “felt up the BallGirl down the RF line” and folks can actually “talk about the Bucs” again. Lol.
But the dude teed off on a HR. LaRussa is a punk and he always was. Baldelli is kinda cool w a godawful team. DRILL The 1st batter up next game, if you’re so bent outta shape on either side.
Let em Fight! That..is BASEBALL
Twins ain’t goin nowhere. And LaRussa is a puss. He will find a way to lose the race to Cleveland.
But this flare up is GOOD. You betcha boots…if someone lobs a 47 mph ‘pitch”? Up there…you HIT IT…Irregardless of count. You tellin me that these “position scrubs who are stuck in…in a blowout? Can’t throw “harder than 47 mph”?
Even a KNUCKLEBALL is pitched faster than that.
Tee off on that grapefruit baby! Tee off. And I don’t care if it is 10-1…15-2…22-0. That is BS.
There is no “unwritten rule” on this pathetic BS. (You got pitchers. You wanna get me out? Then USE one. But if you stick some flamer backup catcher or shortstop in there…so that YOU “mister manager of my team sucks so bad, but I don’t want to use an actual PITCHER”? Then you lose. Get a better team. Cause yours…suck.
And ya tee off on that 47 mph BS pitch.
A friggin girls softball team throws that hard.
Kid hit a home run…off an Euphus pitch
Get over it.
Or…play better, so that your team is not in this situation.
And Tony LaRussa? STFU. This jackwagon just never wants to go away, does he.
Hated him as a player. Hated him the first time he sucked as Sox mgr. Then again as Cardinals manager. And I still hate him now.
Message to Tony LaRussa…(here ‘carrier pigeon’…deliver it to Tony…likely in some bar)…please÷
“Dear Tony. You are never going to be Joe Torre. Quit trying. Love, A Pirate Fan who wishes you would simply just go ‘enjoy your plaque” in the HOF and (hopefully)…find a personality sometime in your life. Because you are about as “interesting” as watching grass grow. Ya bore me. Please retire. Love…Pittsburgh”
Nuff said
What was worse? Mercedes Swing 3-0 or Tony La Russa not knowing extra innings rules?