Let me start by saying that I'm no "fan" of either player who was involved in the incident. To add to that, I'm not an Angels fan, and I'm also not a Red Sox fan. I personally don't like Josh Beckett either; I think he's a moron, a hot-head, and has the personality of a sheep. Having said that, before anyone gets their panties tied up in bunches after reading this, my comments below are merely my objective opinion as an outside observer on what I saw this past Sunday afternoon.
So, what do you do as a pitcher when you're playing a cat-and-mouse game with a runner on second base, and the hitter gets tired of waiting for a pitch to be made and suddenly asks for timeout at the last minute just as the pitcher begins his delivery? Here's a lesson for those of you who have never pitched in a baseball game: you continue your delivery and follow through, and hope the ball ends up in the catcher's glove. Don't stop.
That is something you are taught as a pitcher before you get to high school. Why? Because stopping in the middle of your delivery is dangerous and can cause serious injury to the pitcher. But here's where it gets tricky. As a pitcher, the element of surprise when you look up and see the umpire holding his arms out to indicate 'timeout' when he grants it to the hitter after you've already started your delivery can do funny things to the baseball. You really don't know where the ball is going to end up. No really, you don't, and that's from the element of surprise.
I can't begin to think how many times I've seen balls pitched in those situations where the ball never even gets to the catcher. I've seen balls thrown to the backstop. I've seen balls end up being thrown straight into the ground and bounce to the catcher. Heck, I've even seen a pitcher hurt himself because he did what he was taught not to do: he stopped, and tore his achilles tendon when his cleat got caught on the mound in his attempted to stop his follow-through.
So then why was Josh Beckett suspended for six games when he did exactly what he was supposed to do as a pitcher, but his thrown pitch almost decapitates Bobby Abreu, who didn't really have a lot of time to react, but was still standing in the batter's box when the pitch almost hit him? There were other things besides Abreu almost getting beaned in the head that transpired after the incident that warranted punishment, but that's not what this is about.
As a hitter, you're also taught before you ever get to high school, that if the home plate umpire grants you the timeout you've requested, to get out of the box. Umpires are taught to get out, as well. And I don't mean just back out or side-step one or two steps, I'm talking about completely clearing the home plate area, and quickly. The last thing you want to do as a pitcher in that situation is to accidently hit someone, and as a hitter and an umpire, you don't want to get hurt either. And unfortunately, that's exactly what almost happened.
I saw the play just after it happened, and watched it over, and over, and over again. There was no reason to think Beckett intentionally threw at Abreu's head. Really, does anyone think that had timeout not been called or had Abreu not asked for it, that Beckett was out there head-hunting at that moment? It was the first inning. There was no score. There was no incident prior to that in the game to suggest Beckett was even thinking about it, or that it was even warranted.
But for whatever reason, the Angels took exception to Beckett's pitch, and Major League Baseball bought into the Angels argument that Beckett was throwing at Abreu intentionally. Now Beckett has been suspended for six games because the umpire granted Abreu a late timeout. And it's obvious to me based on some of the things I've read on the internet that I'm in the minority who think the suspension is complete and utter garbage.
And what's funny about the whole thing, and I looked this up after reading Beckett's comments after learning of the suspension today, which he is rightfully appealing, is Beckett, who has hit quite a few hitters in his career, has actually never hit any hitter in the head before. In fact, there was nothing to prove that he has ever thrown at anyone's head either.
What's even funnier about this is two of the umpires are on record saying they think Beckett did the right thing by continuing his delivery and following through with it. And somehow Major League Baseball sees it otherwise.
The whole thing is a complete joke. To punish a guy for doing what he was supposed to do to avoid hurting himself, and then think he was throwing at the hitter intentionally is pure comedy.
So, what do you do as a pitcher when you're playing a cat-and-mouse game with a runner on second base, and the hitter gets tired of waiting for a pitch to be made and suddenly asks for timeout at the last minute just as the pitcher begins his delivery? Here's a lesson for those of you who have never pitched in a baseball game: you continue your delivery and follow through, and hope the ball ends up in the catcher's glove. Don't stop.
That is something you are taught as a pitcher before you get to high school. Why? Because stopping in the middle of your delivery is dangerous and can cause serious injury to the pitcher. But here's where it gets tricky. As a pitcher, the element of surprise when you look up and see the umpire holding his arms out to indicate 'timeout' when he grants it to the hitter after you've already started your delivery can do funny things to the baseball. You really don't know where the ball is going to end up. No really, you don't, and that's from the element of surprise.
I can't begin to think how many times I've seen balls pitched in those situations where the ball never even gets to the catcher. I've seen balls thrown to the backstop. I've seen balls end up being thrown straight into the ground and bounce to the catcher. Heck, I've even seen a pitcher hurt himself because he did what he was taught not to do: he stopped, and tore his achilles tendon when his cleat got caught on the mound in his attempted to stop his follow-through.
So then why was Josh Beckett suspended for six games when he did exactly what he was supposed to do as a pitcher, but his thrown pitch almost decapitates Bobby Abreu, who didn't really have a lot of time to react, but was still standing in the batter's box when the pitch almost hit him? There were other things besides Abreu almost getting beaned in the head that transpired after the incident that warranted punishment, but that's not what this is about.
As a hitter, you're also taught before you ever get to high school, that if the home plate umpire grants you the timeout you've requested, to get out of the box. Umpires are taught to get out, as well. And I don't mean just back out or side-step one or two steps, I'm talking about completely clearing the home plate area, and quickly. The last thing you want to do as a pitcher in that situation is to accidently hit someone, and as a hitter and an umpire, you don't want to get hurt either. And unfortunately, that's exactly what almost happened.
I saw the play just after it happened, and watched it over, and over, and over again. There was no reason to think Beckett intentionally threw at Abreu's head. Really, does anyone think that had timeout not been called or had Abreu not asked for it, that Beckett was out there head-hunting at that moment? It was the first inning. There was no score. There was no incident prior to that in the game to suggest Beckett was even thinking about it, or that it was even warranted.
But for whatever reason, the Angels took exception to Beckett's pitch, and Major League Baseball bought into the Angels argument that Beckett was throwing at Abreu intentionally. Now Beckett has been suspended for six games because the umpire granted Abreu a late timeout. And it's obvious to me based on some of the things I've read on the internet that I'm in the minority who think the suspension is complete and utter garbage.
And what's funny about the whole thing, and I looked this up after reading Beckett's comments after learning of the suspension today, which he is rightfully appealing, is Beckett, who has hit quite a few hitters in his career, has actually never hit any hitter in the head before. In fact, there was nothing to prove that he has ever thrown at anyone's head either.
What's even funnier about this is two of the umpires are on record saying they think Beckett did the right thing by continuing his delivery and following through with it. And somehow Major League Baseball sees it otherwise.
The whole thing is a complete joke. To punish a guy for doing what he was supposed to do to avoid hurting himself, and then think he was throwing at the hitter intentionally is pure comedy.
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