When the Miami Marlins introduced Wednesday would mark Jose Fernandez’s remaining begin of the season, we knew the sport would gain some further attention and take on a little extra meaning considering how great a story Fernandez has been all through his rookie season. I mean in any case, Fernandez has cemented himself as not only a Rookie of the Year candidate within the Nationwide League — he enters the clubhouse early as the favourite over Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig — but a Cy Younger candidate as effectively.
Given his youth — he just lately turned 21 — his apparent aggressive nature and his success this season, Fernandez’s emotions had been going to be high as he took the hill. That much we could anticipate. We just did not expect that these feelings might or would escalate to the level they did throughout the sport.
It appeared to begin boiling over within the top half of the sixth inning when Atlanta Braves rookie Evan Gattis — a terrific story in his own right — took Fernandez deep for a solo house run. That would be the only run Fernandez allowed in seven innings — he earned his 12th victory in Miami’s 5-2 win — however he clearly took exception to the additional second or two Gattis took to admire his residence run. Hey, the kid doesn’t like losing a single battle when he is on the market, and on these rare occasions he does he does not want to be shown up. It’s understandable.
As the inning continued, Chris Johnson was a flyout sufferer for Fernandez, however as he returned to the first base dugout there seemed to be a verbal alternate with Fernandez. A little bit extra gas for a fireplace that was already burning quite sturdy.
We transfer forward to bottom of the inning. In what proved to be his ultimate at-bat of the season, Fernandez muscled up for his first career residence run — a no doubter to left heart field — and let’s just say he took a second or two past what Gattis did to admire his own power. The message Fernandez was sending was fairly clear, but I do not think the Braves appreciated the supply. Then as Fernandez slowly jogged across the bases, he appeared to spit on the bottom or on the toes of Johnson as he approached third base.
Whether there was intent behind it or not, it did not look good, and when Fernandez arrived at the plate an offended Brian McCann was there to greet him. Johnson wasn’t far behind. A heated alternate and the emptying of each benches adopted. There was some bumping in the course of the conference and possibly just a few mild shoves, nevertheless it didn’t develop a lot beyond phrases and animated gestures on Johnson’s half.
Obviously there have been just a few breaches of etiquette and unwritten rules that had been violated on either side that needed to discussed, but when I had to guess it’s most likely the spitting that took it to the following level. Once more, it may not have been intentional, nevertheless it didn’t look good and will require some rationalization.
With that stated, I am not going to come down on him too laborious on Fernandez. If you mix youth and perhaps a little immaturity with the feelings and pressures of baseball, regrettable actions happen. It does not matter how previous you might be or how a lot experience you’ve, generally the game simply will get the very best of you. There is a lesson to be discovered though, and the lesson is that while displaying emotions is ok, realizing the road and conserving them in examine is large a part of showing your respect for the sport and incomes respect amongst your friends.
Based on his feedback following the sport, it appears he gets that.
From MLB.com:
“I feel I don’t deserve to be here, because this isn’t highschool no more,” the rookie pitcher said. “This is a professional recreation, and we must be professional gamers. I believe that by no means ought to occur. I’m embarrassed, and hopefully that may never happen once more.”
Again, Fernandez wasn’t alone is stirring the pot. Gattis, Johnson and even McCann to an extent had a hand in it as well, however it’s good to hear that he is aware of he pushed it to a different degree when he could have easily squashed it. Good for him. Good for baseball, too, as a result of he’s a star the game may be built round for many years to return.
Benches clear after Jose Fernandez hits first career home run, spits in vicinity of Chris Johnson
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