Last night, in a game between the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers, Fernando Tatis Jr. did the unthinkable. He stepped up to the plate in the top of the 8th inning with the bases loaded, took three pitches to make it a 3-0 count, and then promptly MASHED his second dinger of the day over the Right field wall to extend the Padres lead to 14-3. Not to mention this little moon shot gave him the league lead in Home Runs. Seems like any other grand slam, right? WRONG!!!
The Rangers were none too pleased about Tatis Jr. breaking one of the “Unwritten Rules” of baseball, which is, you don’t swing on a 3-0 count when you’re up big late in the game. So mad in fact, that pitcher Juan Nicasio resorted to this type of cry-baby behavior on the very next pitch to Manny Machado.
Really dude??? You’re gonna resort to throwing right behind the next batter just because you walked two batters, threw three straight 3-0 counts, and ON TOP OF THAT you decided to throw a 92 MPH meatball. Is Tatis Jr. really just supposed to let that go by? It’s like the announcer said, “just pitch better”. It’s not that hard, you’re in the MLB and getting paid millions of dollars to not give up home runs, so maybe don’t throw pitches that result in a majority of home runs. This isn’t beer league softball.
After this saga began the Rangers bench got a little angry, so Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer decided to hopefully calm this quarrel before it became too heated, by talking to Tatis Jr. and informing him of these “unwritten rules”. Needless to say, Tatis Jr. simply doesn’t care.
But that was just the in-game drama.
The post-game and online reactions were certainly a sight to behold, and they often are every time one of these ridiculous “uNwRiTtEN rULeS” are broken. Tatis Jr. was not only scolded by Rangers Manager Chris Woodward, who’s comments on the matter are so ridiculous I’ll just leave them here for anyone who would like to read in full, but also accosted by HIS OWN MANAGER Jayce Tingler, who had this to say.
If I were a Padres fan right now, I probably would have had an aneurysm. Baseball needs to write these “unwritten rules” on a sheet of paper and burn it because this is ridiculous. So what, he missed a sign and almost smashed the cover off of the ball. It may sound like a wild concept, but I think you should always be trying to play better than the other team in professional sports. Honestly, if I were Bryce Tingler, maybe I’d keep quiet and take the runs, the Padres seem to need them.
