 | irishgit (151)
03/05/2007 |  Let me state up front that I'm a Red Sox fan, and that I've hated the Yankees since forever and Don Zimmer since he screwed up the Red Sox in the late '70s. Having got that out of the way, I see nothing wrong with what happened between Martinez and Zimmer. Martinez, who had strolled out of the dugout when the benches cleared, was stationary, and seeing Zimmer coming, held up a finger to warn him. Zimmer, in what I view as a deliberate attempt to assault the opposing starter, got his fat ignorant ass thrown on the ground. In other words, he got what he had coming. As far as Martinez' career goes, I see nothing wrong with pitchers who go high and tight. Does Martinez, (and Clemens, Cone, Smoltz, etc, etc,) occasionally hit batters on purpose. Of course. Do I have a problem with it? Not at all. Its part of the game that should never have disappeared. The legendary pitchers of the past (Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale, Spahn, etc) had the purpose pitch as part of their arsenal, and God help the batter that regularly tried to take the inside of the plate away. I'll take any pitcher with this kind of aggression, over a pitcher afraid to send a message.
(7 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Mc-D (0)
12/15/2003 | Martinez is on the list. irishgit is crazy. Hitting batters is part of the game, hitting them in the head is not. Martinez has pinpoint control, that, combined with his threat to do the same to Posada, indicate that he was head hunting.
If its such a big part of the game, why did his hit batter count jump when he went from National to Amercan league. Oh wait, the pitcher has to bat in the National League. I guess its only strategic when you don't face the retribution yourself.
Zim was out of line, and admitted as much. But it took him 20-30 minutes to run across the field, maybe all-star martinez could have just got out of the way. Grabbing someone's head and throwing them to the ground is not a defense response.
As for Zim messing up the red sox in the 70s. '77 tied for second best in the east (not sure how the tie breaker went), 1GB. '78 second place, 1 GB. Over .500 every year he was there. They've been messed up plenty before and after Zim was there.
(1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | magellan (174)
10/13/2003 | It doesn't look good when a major league athlete tosses a fat, 72 year old man to the ground. However, I don't know what else Pedro could have done... Zim was chugging right at him with a crazy look in his eye. I think I probably would have done the same thing.
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
