BY JOSH ABEL

In print | Published October 23, 2008

The Phillies made the National League Championship Series less dramatic than it could have been, dispatching the Dodgers in five games. However, some foolishness made Game 3 exciting.
After Brett Myers threw behind the Dodgers’ star slugger, Manny Ramirez, in Game 2 (he claims it slipped out of his hand) and Jamie Moyer hit Dodgers catcher Russell Martin with a pitch early in Game 3 (clearly unintentional – it was a breaking ball, in a critical situation), Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda threw a ball up around Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino’s head. The benches then emptied, though the sides just exchanged some heated words.

Conventional baseball wisdom says Kuroda did the right thing. FOX’s broadcaster Tim McCarver, who has trouble thinking outside the box, had been waiting for this retaliatory chin music since the Myers pitch in the previous game. In Game 2, Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley never retaliated against Myers’ perceived sleight, a decision that was trumped up as some sort of failure of character.

When Kuroda fired at Victorino, all was right in the world for McCarver and the many who “think” like him. The idea is that, if your counterpart throws at one of your teammates, it is your duty as a pitcher to retaliate by hitting one of his. During the drama, McCarver invoked the name of Don Drysdale, speaking with great reverence about how the former Dodger great would have handled a situation like this – he was never reluctant to throw at someone. Drysdale, unlike the wimp Billingsley, was not afraid of a confrontation and knew how to handle such a dispute like a man.

But let’s be clear: there is nothing manly or courageous about throwing a baseball 90 mph at someone’s head, particularly when the rules of the game confine that person to a small box 60 feet away. Rather, it is immature and blockheaded.

At no point did McCarver, or anybody else, stop to consider whether the Phillies pitchers had actually been targeting the Dodgers hitters in the aforementioned incidents (i.e. whether there was actually anything to retaliate against). In fact, McCarver seemed to understand that the Phillies were just playing the game the right way, trying to pitch effectively on the inner part of the plate. This is a necessity for a Major League pitcher, something else McCarver would acknowledge.

No matter. McCarver thirsted for the firing squad and was pleased when Kuroda delivered.
This is not acceptable in the 21st Century. We don’t lash out at each other when we disagree or suspect that we have been wronged. Aggression and rage are not traits to be admired, but instead mesh only with a warped and antiquated sense of masculinity.

Kuroda, or whoever decided that Victorino should be thrown at, acted irrationally and cowardly, choosing to risk an injury to Victorino’s head or hands in response to a few unintentional and unimportant byproducts of the Phillies pitchers’ pitching the right way. Up to that point in the series, exactly one Dodger had been hit by a pitch: Russell Martin took Moyer’s slow curveball off his knee, something he could have avoided if he had moved at all. It goes without saying that this does not warrant a fastball at an opponent’s head.

And yet, McCarver mused about how Kuroda had won the respect of his teammates with that pitch, something Billingsley had failed to do in Game 2. Kuroda was out there protecting his teammates, letting the Phillies know that it wasn’t okay to throw at his hitters (even though they never had). That’s how Drysdale would have done it. That’s a how a man should do it.

As we’ve seen all too clearly in the 21st Century, trumping up excuses for aggressive force based on false or manufactured evidence has a way of backfiring. The Phillies had not been throwing at the Dodgers; they were just using the inside part of the plate.

Even after Kuroda threw at Victorino’s head, the Phillies continued throwing inside, and their effective pitching was key in sending the Dodgers packing after just five games.

Oh, and Russell Martin got hit again later in Game 3. So much for protecting your hitters.
Ultimately, Kuroda had no cause to throw at Victorino, and his decision to do so yielded no results – just a fine from Major League Baseball. The cost to Victorino could have been much greater.

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