| Baseball sent a message pitch of its own Wednesday by suspending Pedro Martinez five games for his part in an incident with the Cleveland Indians on Sunday.
Too bad it was misfired.
Frank Robinson, baseball's new vice president for on-field operations, wanted to make a point by suspending Martinez, baseball's preeminent pitcher. If Robinson can make an example of Martinez, then the precedent will have been established.
But what sort of message is being sent here? Martinez drilled Cleveland's Roberto Alomar in the behind only after Alomar's teammate, Charles Nagy, had plunked Boston's Jose Offerman the inning before.
Nagy got a token fine; Martinez got five games.
Baseball's own version of frontier justice was long ago established -- you hit one of ours, we'll hit one of yours. It's as much a part of the game as the take-out slide.
The Indians maintain that Martinez instigated things by brushing back catcher Einar Diaz in the seventh, thus prompting the prompt retaliation by Nagy.
The Sox's position is that while Martinez was well within his boundaries to move Diaz off the plate after the catcher had hit two outside pitches for base hits in his previous at-bats, Nagy's plunking of Offerman was as subtle as a flying mallet.
Brushing back is one thing; hitting is another. Martinez's greatest sin was to protect his teammates after home plate umpire Tim Tschida had warned both benches that the next pitch deemed too purposeful would result in ejection.
Of course, Tschida could have ejected Nagy without a warning had he detected that his pitch was meant to hit Offerman, which it surely was. Instead, the Indians were allowed to take a free shot.
The fear the Red Sox have, which is not unfounded, is that teams will repeat this pattern against Martinez. If you can't beat baseball's most dominant pitcher, why not attempt to sucker him into a beanball battle, leading to his ejection.
"I think it's a great tactic," admitted Detroit manager Phil Garner when presented with the scenario Wednesday. "If we get down to the pennant, I tell you what -- I'd have to think about sending a guy out there and say, 'Hit the first guy.' I'm not saying I would do it. But I'm saying you have to think about it."
Clearly, this isn't what Robinson had in mind. But it may be what results.
Nobody wants to see more of this bench-clearing ugliness, which is mostly a silly exercise in macho posturing. Perhaps baseball can take a tougher stance, similar to the one taken by the NHL and NBA many years ago, in which players unnecessarily entering the field of play are subject to automatic ejection and suspensions.
As it is, a gross sense of entitlement is evident in too many big-league hitters. They feel it's their constitutional right to greater plate coverage, and any pitch that suggests otherwise is guilty of threatening their livelihood.
Not true. If pitchers can reclaim a portion of the inner half of the plate, we may see fewer 12-11 games and fewer light-hitting shortstops enjoying three-homer games.
Long ago, Martinez earned a reputation as a headhunter during his career in the National League. Indeed, in his younger days, Martinez lacked command and maturity, a dangerous combination for someone with the ability to throw 97 mph.
But that was long ago. Martinez hit just nine batters last season, just more than half the total for the American League leader, Jeff Weaver. But a reputation can be a tough thing to shake.
When baseball put Robinson in charge of on-field discipline, it made a move in the right direction. This was no university president, lacking in practical baseball experience.
Robinson, who enjoyed a Hall of Fame career and was known to crowd the plate a bit, could put what happens on the field in context and at the same time have the immediate respect of the players.
But Robinson is hitting only .500 in his first two disciplinary decisions. That's a great average for a player but not for an executive in charge of fair play.
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal-Bulletin covers the American League for ESPN.com. | |
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