The Beaning

Let's talk about the now infamous beaning from last night. Every discussion like this always seems to end up with the main question being: if one of the players on your team gets hit, is it your job to hit a player back?

Personally, I'm all for beaning a player, but you only do it if the timing is right.

All those people who were upset that Chad Billingsley didn't bean a member of the Phillies during the playoffs last year were wrong. Sorry, but there are more important things to focus on during a playoff game than playing macho man. Like winning the playoff game (which, unfortunately, Billingsley didn't do either, but I digress).

Which brings me to yesterday's game. The Dodgers were leading 17-4 with two outs in the 9th. Prince Fielder steps up to the plate, and Guillermo Mota nails him in the leg. Mota is promptly tossed out of the game while Fielder looks at him angrily.

Then, apparently, later, Fielder charged for the Dodger locker room, which itself is a dumb idea. But that's for later.

For now, I just want to discuss the beaning itself, and why it was so pointless.

1. Mota felt like the Dodgers needed to send the Brewers a message. You mean something like beating them by 13 runs? You mean like scoring more runs in the previous inning than they did all game? You mean like Mota himself driving in a run? The offensive beatdown, the biggest one at Dodger Stadium in decades, was a nice enough message to send.


2. Everyone notes that two Dodgers were hit. I'll give you Manny's case. It did seem like that was a message, but Pierre's hit? That guy was throwing 55 MPH. Seriously. Don't tell me that that hit was intentional.


3. When you are up 13 runs in the 9th, you want to use as few pitchers as possible. But because we needed to send the Brewers a message, we had to use another pitcher. So Troncoso, who should have had the night off, had to warm up and get in the game to get a single out. With a 13 run lead.


4. Now, despite the fact that the Dodgers saw the beaning as a retaliation, the Brewers won't feel that way. So, what could have ended will now continue on into today's game and in all likelihood, another Dodger will get hit in today's game. And then what? The benches will clear, players will grunt in each other's faces, nothing will happen, and we'll go back to the game all feeling a little better about ourselves? Come on.
   

Now, that's not to say the Dodgers were all at fault. The beaning was pointless and ridiculous, but the reaction from the Brewers was almost as bad.

Prince Fielder went to the Dodger clubhouse. For what? You are going to pick a fight against a guy while 24 of his teammates stand around and watch? What the hell are you thinking?

And Milwaukee Manager Ken Macha? He had this nugget: "So, to me, giving a guy a $500 fine and a two-day suspension is not enough. This type of stuff should be cleaned up."

Oh, shut up. If there's one thing I can't stand is an old school guy like Macha complaining about an old school ideology. He acts like he's taking the high road. His team fired the first shot across the bow! And you want to tell me, Ken, that if two of your guys got hit, you wouldn't order a retaliation? Just shut up.

To sum it all up:

If the Dodgers wanted to retaliate, they should have done it sooner, the next inning after Manny got hit. Waiting for the very last out of the game is idiotic.

And Brewers? Shut up. Don't give us this whole "Why would they do this to us?" routine. No one is buying your righteous indignation so get over it.

Basically, what I'm saying is, everybody is wrong and stupid.