If a guy gets a big hit or a pitcher strikes me out in a big situation and he pumps his fist and he’s looking in his dugout and reacting with his guys, I have no issues with that. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers.
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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.
The game was the final one of the regular season between the two teams, who had played each other six times before that.
“I don’t know what the repercussions are going to be”, said Gibbons. I can tell when somebody is coming hard to second base. Retaliation is part of the game but anytime a punch is thrown, swift action must be taken by the league.
Bautista’s emphatic bat flip in a contentious Game 5 had delayed consequences; Bautista was drilled by a pitch Sunday and responded with an aggressive slide into Odor at second base.
Donaldson, Bautista, manager John Gibbons and right-hander Jesse Chavez, who hit Prince Fielder to start the bottom of the eighth, are facing suspensions in addition to Bush and Rangers manager Jeff Banister, who were not ejected, and bench coach Steve Buechele, who was tossed.
“Odor formed a ideal fist with his right hand and delivered The Baseball Punch to End All Baseball Punches, striking Toronto’s Jose Bautista on the jaw with a directness that resonated with both retribution and justice”. “I’m not sure if Jose even felt it with the adrenalin that was probably going through his body”. Banister would like to see every player on every club perform with the same verve. Sparky had to hold me back.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays manager said Monday it wasn’t the retribution that bothered him, but the timing. “I think this will bring us closer together, not that this team needed it”. “There’s a couple of things they could have done differently to let us, as the players, take care of it on the field”.
The seeds of Sunday’s brawl were sown during last October’s AL Division Series.
Bautista did not speak to media ahead of Monday’s game with Tampa, other than to say that he was feeling fine despite absorbing Odor’s haymaker.
“I think there’s a way to do it”, he said. The Rangers could also option outfielder Ryan Rua to the minors to make room for Jurickson Profar if the Rangers decide they want a full-time second baseman rather than using utility man Hanser Alberto. He plays it hard.
That’s what happened with Odor and Bautista. Odor said he ignored the furor, including some pointed comments that he is a “dirty” player. But it’s got to be genuine emotion not directed at them, so I think there’s room for emotion and for the excitement.
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That particularly applies to the Rangers, if Odor is suspended.
