The Boo-Hoo Red Sox

For those who heard about the one-sided penalties meted out by Joe Garagiola, Jr. of Major League Baseball in the recent game involving the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox, I feel your pain. It’s another example of the haves (winning seasons forever) against the have-nots (losing seasons seemingly forever).

I shrugged my shoulders and thought, “so what else is new.” The Orioles received the brunt of the punishment and the Red Sox players and manager almost got off completely unscathed. It’s a joke, and a bad one at that.

But when I encountered a Sox fan at the gym today, I couldn’t help being “outspoken” about the absurdity of the situation. That absurdity, however, was surpassed by his ridiculous defense of the penalties.

It all boils down to the fact, according to this guy, that Orioles pitcher Kevin Gregg was in the wrong by telling “Big Papi” David Ortiz to run out a pop-up. Wow! The guy said this with a straight face!

I said Ortiz should have simply ignored the comment and head back to the dugout. But no—the guy said Gregg had no right to tell him to run out a pop fly.

Are we talking about a 5 year-old? Ortiz is a multi-million dollar professional athlete, and a good one, not some school kid. But apparently Ortiz was uber-sensitive to the pitcher’s comments.

Walk away, turn the other cheek, don’t dignify Gregg’s taunt by reacting to it. Not Big Papi. He had to make a show in front of the home crowd and charge the mound swinging wildly but missing Gregg with any blows. What an example to kids!

Back in the day, baseball players were subject to ruthless bench jockeying throughout a game. It was no big deal. A player would charge the mound only if he was beaned and was conscious enough to react. Today’s modern agent-represented prima donnas charge the mound on the basis of a verbal taunt or an inside pitch. It’s incredible how the sport has evolved.

It makes one appreciate the courage, temperament and class of Jackie Robinson. All the times he received a lot worse taunts than Ortiz did—including the N-word on a consistent basis—Robinson had the ability to hold back the fire and take his anger out competitively on the field.

Not Ortiz—he cannot stand being called out for being a lazy runner and instead, charges the mound like a bull in the arena. He is an embarrassment to the game and baseball added to the embarrassment in the way they dealt with the incident.