Why I Love Baseball

“I feel bad for them for having to hit somebody.”

Last night the Bluejays played in Chicago against the White Sox. In the eighth inning the Bluejay pitchers hit two Chicago batters. It was clearly unintentional. Josh Towers, one of the pitchers, said “I wasn’t trying to hit A.J. [Pierzynski] by any means — you guys know that. And Justin [Speier] wasn’t either. It just worked out that way, unfortunately for those guys.”

But according to the unwritten rules of baseball, two hit batters requires retaliation. So the next inning, when Russ Adams came to the plate, having already hit two home runs in the game, he was deliberately hit by a pitch. Since it is accepted that there will be retaliation, the Bluejays did not object – they knew it had to happen. “I feel bad for them for having to hit somebody and Russ for getting hit,” said Towers. Note the word “having.” This was something that had to be done, plain and simple.

I guess baseball is a game of law, not grace.