Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Bravo, Russ Springer

Springer threw inside with every pitch to Bonds last night before finally hitting him. After the first pitch, he was warned, but he kept going, even hitting the knob of his bat for a foul ball before drilling him in the shoulder.

Now, that was too close to the head to be condoned - even Barry's engorged noggin - but I've often wondered why more pitchers don't do this. If you're going to walk him anyway, just hit him. It gets the same job done, it'll save you pitches, and maybe you'll hurt him, which is good for everyone but Giants fans.

Then we can listen to him cry about it on his reality show and have Kruk and Reynolds yell at each other about whether or not it's okay, but since I don't really watch ESPN anymore, that doesn't affect me.

So I say go for it. If you're a veteran pitcher who has survived in the majors for years without using steroids, I don't see how the thought hasn't at least crossed your mind yet. Well, the cow's out of the barn now, so why not?

1 comment:

Ross said...

I've often thought, veteran or not, that a pitcher should just go after his knees. Try to break something so he doesn't break Aaron's record.

It's an injury, that unlike throwing at his head, is not life altering after his career is over. The pitcher could even hint that he did it on purpose with an answer like "No, I was just trying to pitch inside. However, I do think it would be a travesty to see him break Hank Aaron's record, and if he is injured, oh well."

A pitcher that did this would be a baseball hero, outside of San Francisco of course.