Saturday, May 20, 2006

It's official

I am a boor.

I cheered when Russ Springer plunked Barry Bonds. It was an event that, in my mind, was well summed-up by a commenter at The Crawfish Boxes who said, "Springer is a veteran force on this team. He's in charge of the bullpen, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wielded some power over the younger starters. Pitching to Bonds and the number 714, as much as Taylor and Wandy won't admit it, got into their heads. So Springer pulls his best mama bear impression and targets the one guy that has been messing with his cubs. Even if Bonds wasn't directly responsible for the maelstrom of runs for the Giants, his presence was."

That's a sentiment I can identify with, and yes, I frankly and literally applauded his actions.

I've been amused by some of the follow-up. Russ Springer was suspended for four games, which most of the Astros thought was excessive. Some of his comments are priceless--"It's a little disappointing that people would think it would take me five pitches [to hit him]." (Well, I'll give him that. Unless he was just really trying to sell it as an accident, he should have been able to hit him the first time.) "The last hit-by-pitch [2004], I hit him in the calf-ankle area. If I'm going to hit him on purpose, I'm not going to hit him on the ankle." (Okay, so where would you hit him, then? The shoulder, perhaps? Hee.)

Less amusing are the comments from Felipe Alou--"'There's got to be some respect for the event,' said Alou, in reference to the game, and Bonds' chase for the career home run record." (Riiiiight. And Bonds shows so much respect for the game.) "'You can do anything you want as long as it's legally right,' Alou said. 'And if you do it illegally, you've got to pay for the consequences, right?'" (Dude, are you listening to yourself?)

Another gentleman who perhaps wasn't listening to himself was the Bay Area writer who called for retaliation, and hoped that an Astro would be injured ("bruised," at least) in the exchange. Yeah, I may be a boor, but I'm not a barbarian. I was glad Bonds was NOT injured by Springer. I would not have seen Springer's actions as anything but malicious if Bonds had been injured. I dislike Jeff Kent almost as much as I dislike Barry Bonds, and yet I was concerned for his recent concussion (which fortunately he came back from well, as evidenced by his work against us in the two recent series).

Anyway. Time to pack, heading to Houston tonight to catch Andy Pettitte's start this evening. I'm going to try to make it to the free concert before the game--Roger Creager is a personal favorite of mine. Here's hoping for sunshine, good music, cold beer, and another gem by Andy!

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