The Texas Rangers will be playing without their second baseman Rougned Odor after he will be meted with a suspension for punching Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. “I can tell when somebody is coming hard into second base so I just tried to protect myself”.
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Odor landed a clean overhand right to the bigger Blue Jay’s face after Bautista executed a hard slide into second to break up a double play.
Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor throws to first after forcing out Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Michael Saunders at second base in the sixth inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.
“A lot of times, if you got hit [in past years] it was on objective”.
“I think we have to understand there are different customs in different countries”. Any time I see a bunch of players out on the field (in a brawl), you just hold your breath.
In addition to Donaldson, there was another A’s connection because pitcher Jesse Chavez, now with the Blue Jays, sent a message by hitting Prince Fielder with his next pitch. “But also we see what happens”. He does things to help his team win games. The roots of the contretemps, of course, stretch back to last October, when Bautista sealed a volatile game near the end of the American League Division Series with a mighty home run, and an even mightier bat flip.
On the altercation around second base, after Bautista’s hard slide prompted words between them: “I think it’s over”.
Odor, who admitted he has shied away from watching TV or social media in the aftermath of the punch, knows he is going to be suspended by Major League Baseball for a couple games. If I get a hit and drive somebody in, I’m going to be fired up, too.
Typically in baseball, if you have a score to settle, you do it the next game.
Texas manager Jeff Banister said, “I think it was just two hard-nosed baseball teams that play the game hard”.
“He was standing there after the slide, looking at me”, Odor said. You always anticipate (Bautista being hit by a pitch) might happen going in, that was the talk. Emotions were high during the game, he was angry about Bautista almost taking out his legs and retaliated in a way he saw fit.
“It bothers me”, Torre said.
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Hall of Famer Joe Morgan knows that for more than a century, baseball players have policed themselves. “I managed the WBC a few years ago and the Dominican club, the Puerto Rican club, the club from Mexico, they were a lot more animated”.
