It's been a rough week for Nationals OF Nyger Morgan. He has been involved in more than a couple of dust-ups so far against the competition. It all began on Saturday against the Cardinals when Morgan should have scored from first on a double down the right field line. Watch the video here.
Morgan is clearly upset that he is called out, but if you watch the replay, Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson is easily two feet away from the plate, when Morgan intentionally initiates contact... so much so that he actually missed the plate. He is called out because his teammates touched him while he was still a "live" runner, i.e. before he scored; you can't do that. Allegedly, Morgan was upset that Nationals manager Jim Riggleman had him eighth in the lineup. Riggleman apologized for the incident and benched Morgan for the following game. Morgan later said, "I kind of grazed [Anderson] which wasn't, in my eyes, intentional." Go ahead and watch that play again. If Morgan had grazed Anderson, you wouldn't see the shoving motion, and Anderson wouldn't have fallen forward and dropped his glove.
This brings us to Tuesday's game in Miami against the Marlins. Morgan once again failed to slide into home, and opted to barrel through the Marlins catcher. Brett Hayes, the Marlins catcher, held on to the ball and Morgan was called out on the play, and the Marlins won in the bottom half of the 10th inning. However, it was not without its price. Hayes separated his shoulder on the play and is done for the year.
And, now, Wednesday's game. Apparently the Marlins were still pretty upset with Morgan because they hit him with a pitch in the fourth inning. In a 14-3 game, Morgan took first on the HBP, then proceeded to steal 2nd and 3rd - the first thing that he actually did right in this series of events. The Marlins apparently took exception to Morgan stealing these bases in a blowout. Personally, I don't see what the issue is. We saw two 9 run comebacks just last week; you play hard and try to win the game. If a Marlins player had been the one stealing the bases, then it would be a different story, but if you're down by 11, you do all you can to get your team back into the game. In response to the stolen bases, Marlins starter Chris Volstad threw behind Morgan in his next AB, which lead to this...
You can't blame Morgan for being upset about being thrown at a second time. What you can blame him for is his reaction to the incident. These are grown men, playing in a professional league; not children playing at the sandlot, but it was pretty difficult to tell the difference.
This is usually the part where I would my some dry, sarcastic remark, but I don't think I'm going to do that today. There's nothing funny about baseball players failing to be a role model for the kids who play the sport. Watch the LLWS. You see a bunch of kids just playing the game and having a great time. That's what this sport is all about - fun and the love of the game.
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