Umpires practicing their ejection moves for June 10-13

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius18 Comments

Temperes flared in yesterday's Cubs game after Reds starter Johnny Cueto threw a pitch over David DeJesus's head in the sixth inning. Cueto was visibly pissed with DeJesus at the start of the game when he felt DeJesus stepped out of the batters box several times and took way too long to get ready at the plate. Both benches were warned after the pitch, and Cueto had to stand in against the ultimate retaliation weapon Carlos Marmol. It's always nice to have a guy with no control in a situation like that, because the batter has no idea if he's throwing at him. One pitch did go up and in, but it was pretty clear that Marmol was not trying to hit Cueto (the umpire agreed). Still, it was pretty funny to see him bail after every pitch like he was expecting it. 

DeJesus just laughed after the pitch, knowing exactly what was going on, but Matt Garza was pretty incensed after the game. 

"Cueto should learn, you don't go after guy's heads," he said. "Don't wake a sleeping dog. I think that's kind of immature on his part and totally uncalled for. He's lucky that retaliation isn't in our vocabulary. You play each game like it's a new one. That's [nonsense] on his part — just total immaturity. If he has something to say about it, he knows where to find my locker, and I'll definitely find his.

Cueto, for his part, dodged the media both after the game and before today's Reds game. Dusty Baker took time to respond, however, claiming that Cueto "couldn't hit Wilt Chamberlain with that pitch", and basically told Garza that he should have had the balls to say it to Cueto's face. 

MLB is probably relieved that the teams won't play for another two months and change, but these things tend to simmer. It could be that Garza isn't on the team by the time they face each other again anyway.

EDIT: I dropped out of the school for kids who can't read good, and thus missed that the Cubs and Reds play from June 10-13.

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  1. GW

    @ Aisle424:

    Yeah, he was a second rounder (or maybe a supplemental pick). He was thought of as a really athletic catcher. I saw him play in Boise and he looked great behind the plate, but his swing seemed a little funky to me.

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  10. GW

    @ Berselius:

    What gets me is that the internet would burn Carlos Quentin at the stake if they had the chance for basically playing rugby with Zach Greinke, but no one gives Cueto a second thought. The lesson: if you’re going to injure someone, make sure he’s not a good player.

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  15. Author
    Berselius

    @ GW:

    When I was looking around for the news/video on that fight, I saw an article calling out LaRussa as gutless for not picking Cueto for the All-Star team’s pitching staff after he retired. This is one of the few occasions where I have no problem with a TLR decision.

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  17. 26.2cubfan

    @ Berselius:

    I love Theo’s “start getting on base or we’ll bring someone in who can!!” threat in that article. I like the implication that players will be measured on their ability to improve on-base skills and if there’s not enough progress they’ll be dumped. Sounds like an attempt to get through some thick skulls.

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