285 replies to this topic

[weird-O]

A former player's opinion on this carries weight for me. The O's hit their big guy, the Padres hit the O's big guy. No clearing the benches, just take your base. We all understand that this is an unwritten rule of baseball. I want to believe that most pitchers don't throw at a guy's head, unprovoked. So I don't think it was intentional. But with the near miss to Manny, I can see why the Padres thought otherwise. Maybe what Alby was saying (with his, he did it the right way, or however he said it) is that they hit their guy, and knew retaliation was coming, right or wrong.    

[BSLMikeLowe]

I don't condone retaliation in general, it just has too much potential to escalate to someone getting unnecessarily injured. But I get why the Padres wanted retribution after Bogaerts took one to the head, and don't have any big issue with that. It's one of those unwritten rules.

 

My issue, which I didn't learn about until later because I didn't actually watch the game, was that they missed on two obvious attempts to plunk Gunnar before finally doing so in the 9th. I don't think that's the "right way." Take your shot. If you miss, too bad, move on. To keep throwing at a guy crosses a line, and it would seem that both the umpire and MLB agree.

 

So with all that said, Albernaz's comment was poor.

[Mackus]

If Gunnar said what Alby said first, then I'd have no issue with Alby saying it.  What I hate is that he didn't stand up for his player who, to me at least, looked and spoke like he'd have appreciated the support.  

[BSLChrisStoner]

PressBox: Stan ‘The Fan’ Charles: Putting Orioles Manager Craig Albernaz’s First Season In Perspective

https://pressboxonli...in-perspective/

[weird-O]

That was light on content. 1/3rd of it was about Elias, and a good bit of it was a Hyde retrospective. Alby is being criticized, and rightly so. Injuries aren't an excuse that good teams use to justify a losing record. Do I have to quote Sean Connery in The Rock, again? Likewise, since when is the poor play of individuals a reason to be patient with a manager. Isn't the primary role of a manager to work through those things, or to even mitigate them? Personally, I haven't seen anyone calling for him to be fired. Am I not in the loop enough? Being most of the way across the country, I'm sure I miss some things. But I feel like you guys keep me pretty well in touch. I don't think he's the problem, but he doesn't deserve a full pass either.  

[MJM]

Honestly,

I feel like a baseball Manager has very little to do with the outcomes, except for the truly special, HOF Managers. And even those guys don’t necessarily win all the time, Buck Showalter.