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Baseball's "code"

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by hondo, Apr 25, 2010.

  1. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    "That's what you're paid for, Braden!"

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  2. UPChip

    UPChip Well-Known Member

    90% of the pitchers in MLB don't do anything, or maybe they throw a four-seamer into someone's back later on, but just look at this guy's mug:

    [​IMG]

    This just screams "D-BAG!"
     
  3. BB Bobcat

    BB Bobcat Active Member

    I'm not gonna say Braden didn't overreact, but he's not a DBag. He's one of the most friendly, thoughtful players I've covered. I don't know what the deal is with that mug.
     
  4. Trey Beamon

    Trey Beamon Active Member

    Another "code" moment in the Pirates-Dodgers game last night:

    (Zach) Duke was sitting at his stall, staring forward, scowling, while left completely alone: Two of the Pirates' batters were hit by pitches early in the game and, in the fifth inning, Andrew McCutchen was brushed back on successive pitches by reliever Ramon Ortiz, the second one toward his head.

    And, when Ortiz batted in the sixth, a rare plate appearance for any reliever and a golden chance to follow the baseball code of retribution ...

    Nothing.

    A fastball and three curves produced a strikeout, but not so much as a shiver out of Ortiz.

    "I had to step up and retaliate," Duke said. "I dropped the ball."

    Neither baseball players nor their managers or coaches are prone to discussing such matters, so Duke's acknowledgement is extraordinary in that sense. But it also was, as per that code, unmistakably exactly as he described: He dropped the ball when he should have dropped one of the Dodgers. McCutchen is the Pirates' best player, the future of the franchise, and eye-for-an-eye is how it works.


    http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10122/1055034-63.stm
     
  5. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    . . . a joke, given what a mirror-kissing poster boy for derangement
    A-Clod is.
     
  6. Bodie_Broadus

    Bodie_Broadus Active Member

    I love the line about McCutchen being the future of the Pirates.

    As soon as his contract runs out, they won't pay him and he will go somewhere else.

    That's a helluva future.
     
  7. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    My thoughts, too. Part of the problem with the so-called "code" is that it's really not universal. The way someone learns the game in Cali isn't exactly the same way someone learns the game in Georgia or Miami or the Dominican Republic or Japan. These things are fun to talk about but they're very much cultural and regional.
     
  8. Michael Echan

    Michael Echan Member

    http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5170739

    While I like Braden's candidness and the roots of an old-school mentality, Dallas should really shut his mouth and concentrate on his next opponents, which happen to be Tampa Bay and Texas. The next time Oakland plays New York is July 5-7 at the Mausoleum. Because of this flap, I feel that the "code" has lost a bit of it's, for a lack of a better term, savage nobility; it was there, those in and around the game knew it, and it wasn't really brought up because it's something that doesn't need to be brought up. Now, it's just another "thing" for wind-bag talking heads to yell and scream about in an attempt for debate. Plus, the whole "area code dropping" makes him come off a little bit like a clown. Somebody please remind Braden that until he peels off a few more 10-K games, his 15 minutes are up.
     
  9. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    By many accounts this is a decent guy. He doesn't just visit his Little League and high school team in the offseason, but he's with them regularly. He just needs to shut up about this for a while and not let it define him. It's a two-week old story and sort of like a bad skit by now.
     
  10. Trouser_Buddah

    Trouser_Buddah Active Member

    Two arguments I hate:

    1) Whether it's sports or politics, the whole 'instead of talking about this, you should focus on your real job' talking point is inane, as if Braden is incapable of preparing for his next start while giving interviews during his down time.

    Dumb.

    2) Since Braden doesn't have enough 10-K games, he should shut the hell up? If A-Rod goes out of the baseline to blatantly take out a rookie second baseman during a double play attempt, should the rookie just shut up and take it because it's A-Rod? Screw that.

    Oh, and just for good measure, if you never played the game, you can't write about it.
     
  11. BB Bobcat

    BB Bobcat Active Member

    I have a feeling that Braden didn't voluntarily bring this thing up again, but was probably baited into it for the sake of page views.
     
  12. Trouser_Buddah

    Trouser_Buddah Active Member

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