Beanballs, Brawls and Posada's Shortfalls

Thirteen years' worth of slowly simmering frustration has boiled over this morning in the wake of last night's NY Yankees / Toronto Blue Jays bench-clearing brawl. For those who are unaware of the circumstances, two Blue Jays players were hit with pitches during the game, one undoubtedly intentional, and the other questionable.

But in the 8^th inning, in an obvious attempt to retaliate for those two bean balls, Jesse Carlson of the Jays threw behind Jorge Posada, not actually hitting him but clearly intending to. I've heard some pundits claim that the pitch was so far behind Posada that Carlson wasn't actually trying to hit him, but merely sending a message. Let me say that as a former player, anytime a pitcher throws behind a batter, they are absolutely trying to hit them. The first instinct of any batter as a pitch starts to move more in their direction than over the plate, is to move backwards - it is a natural reflex. The purpose of a pitch thrown behind a batter is always to hit them and done so that the hitter has a more difficult time getting out of the way.

At the time, the incident seemed fairly innocuous: Posada had a few words for Carlson, but he kept his cool and continued his at-bat, eventually drawing a walk, taking his place at first base. The conflict seemed to be over until a few pitches later when a base hit sent Posada scoring from second base. As he crossed the plate, he made contact with Carlson who was in the area to back up home. More words were exchanged, a bench-clearing brawl ensued and both Posada and Carlson were ejected from the game.

There are two issues I feel compelled to address at this moment. The first is that of the unwritten "code" of baseball that often involves pitchers throwing at hitters for a variety of real or perceived violations of this code. One of these is a retaliatory drilling of an opposing player when their pitcher has struck one of your own, whether intentionally or not. I have no problem with this, as I firmly believe it keeps bean balls to a minimum, as no pitcher wants to get one of his own teammates injured.

But the bean ball is often used for another, far less honorable purpose. Frequently, a player who has had some significant success against a particular pitcher, and especially if he has hit one or more home runs against them in a particular game, the player may find a 90+ mile-per-hour fastball heading toward his ribs or, in some cases, at his head. There are many pitchers who are notorious for this: Bob Gibson back in the '60's, Nolan Ryan in the '80s and '90s, and more recently, Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez were often guilty of throwing at a batter for having the audacity to succeed against them. This I will never understand.

Hitting a baseball, especially one thrown at major league velocity, is one of the most difficult tasks in sports. This is why the greatest hitters ever to play the game fail nearly 7 times out of every 10 trips to the plate. When a talented hitter manages to succeed and hit a home run, and especially if he does nothing to insult the pitcher when he does so, he should be acknowledged for his achievement and any pitcher with a modicum of class would do so as well.

Does a hockey goalie look to slash his stick at an opposing player when they score a goal? Do second-place sprinters try and trip the faster runner as he crosses the finish line? Of course not. All of these acts would be labeled shameful, unsportsmanlike and cowardly. Such is the bean ball thrown to punish a successful hitter.

The second point that really has me annoyed today involves Jorge Posada himself. Yes, he had a right to be annoyed that a ball was thrown near him in retaliation. But he showed a serious absence of class when he threw an elbow at Jesse Carlson after he had scored his run. But it isn't this that bothers me about Posada as much as a cumulative record of defensive cowardliness which I have witnessed since he became the Yankees starting catcher in 1996.

In last night's game, with a runner on third and one out, a Blue Jay hit a fly ball to right field - deep enough for the runner to try and tag up and score, but shallow enough for the right-fielder to make a close play out of it.

Nick Swisher caught the ball and made a perfect one-hop throw to the plate. Posada caught it cleanly, yet the runner slid in before he could apply the tag. How did this happen? Because Jorge Posada was out of position, catching the ball behind the plate rather than on top of it and the runner was able to slide easily across the front of the plate which Posada had so graciously left open to him.

The best catchers in the league, in fact just about all of them, know that when there is to be a close play at home, they are permitted, in fact are taught as early as little league, to straddle the plate and use their shin guards and body to try and prevent a player from sliding in cleanly when attempting to apply a tag.

Now I confess to being a fervent Yankees fan. I watch nearly every game and I can't help but love just about every player that has ever played for them, even some that can be difficult to like. But I will never like nor respect Jorge Posada. In 13 years of catching for the Yankees, I cannot recall a single time in which he has properly attempted to block the plate to keep a run from scoring. And I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. He is routinely in the wrong place when a throw is coming his way - either too far out in front of the plate, too far up one baseline or the other, or, as he was last night, too far behind. And I believe he does this intentionally so as to avoid any contact.

Now I realize that the catcher position can be somewhat dangerous. Runners frequently, and legally, bowl catchers over who are trying to block the plate. It's part of the game. But not Posada's game. He clearly would prefer the runner cross home-plate safely than risk a little contact which could potentially result in an injury.

And frankly, I don't really understand why. Posada is clearly a tough guy. He plays through minor injuries, takes dozens or more foul balls off his face-mask and body every season, and is one of the best hitting catchers the league has ever seen. But his reluctance to sacrifice his body to keep a runner from scoring prevents me from giving the same respect I do to most of the catchers in the game.

I don't claim to know Jorge Posada, and I have cheered for him as loudly as anyone when he has gotten a clutch hit or a game-winning home run. But years of watching his defensive play leads me to believe I know something about him. And I think the rest of the league does as well.

I just wonder if Jorge knows.