MLB 2017: The Yankees are dead, Yankees burn in hell

Bunning was one of the most outspoken leaders of the MLBPA in its early days, supporting Marvin Miller when he became its president and was facing "lol union = communism" attacks from a subset of players, and nearly the entirety of owners (Walter O'Malley once said he wanted Bowie Kuhn to "break that crooked-arm Jew in half and send him back to Brooklyn"). His contributions to players can't be overstated.

 

Some stupid bullshit went down during Nats / Giants today.

Can't wait for Harper to get 20 games and Strickland only 5.

Edit: It would be tight if a manager just pulled and suspended his own player for beanballing, if the umps don't do anything. Doubt any of them have the balls to do this, though (although Bochy looked like he wanted to club Strickland with a bat).

 

This is what happens when you let pitchers intentionally throw at people with impunity.

Edit: I mean, it's telling that Posey and Mike Morse made no attempt whatsoever to stop Harper.

 

Because he's an idiot, especially considering that Bochy notoriously hates beanballs.

I mean, the Giants have a few whiny children on their team (I'm thinking of MadBum in particular), and pretty much the entire fanbase was super-mad at Javy Baez for having the absolute gall to be excited about hitting a single up the middle of the NLDS, despite that excitement being because Strickland threw at him the last time he'd been up.

But apparently in Strickland's world, Harper should just accept that he's gonna get hit if he plays well.

 

And Strickland actually decked Hunter Pence for pulling him out of the fracas. What a manchild.

Eagerly awaiting the heavy-handed announcement from MLB: "Effective pending appeal, Bryce Harper has been suspended for the month of June for his role in the incident in May 29's game between the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals. By throwing his helmet, Harper created a dangerous missile-like object that could have caused serious injury. *completely ignores the hypocrisy in that statement*"

As I recall, Spider lives in Texas. The reason he can't watch Astros games isn't because of blackout rules, it's because CSN Houston collapsed a few years ago (it was a mess from the start, never making its payments on time to the Astros and Rockets) and was replaced by Root Sports Southwest, and the Astros' deal with Root calls for all games not nationally televised to be on that RSN. So the Astros are literally a cable-only team.

Edit: The collapse of CSN Houston was the first big sign that the RSN bubble was on the brink of bursting. The ongoing disaster that is the Dodgers' inability to get carriage of SportsNet LA is another huge sign (and that ownership group is going to be in a world of financial hurt soon, because they've been writing massive checks with the expectation of massive TV money that literally isn't coming in).

The Cubs are clearly aiming at starting their own RSN when their rights come up in 2020, but they're absolutely delusional if they think the money's going to be there.

 

Well, Posey himself said after the game that he saw Harper's point in charging the mound. I think beyond that, though, it's important to note that he's played for Bruce Bochy his entire professional career, and Bochy is easily the most outspoken manager currently active, possibly in history (with Earl Weaver in that consideration), about his hatred of intentionally drilling hitters, both on a strategic level (no reason to surrender a base) and because he doesn't like seeing people intentionally trying to hurt each other. Posey's actions seemed to be a reflection of that coaching -- and also a possible sign that the Giants are getting very tired of Strickland's bullshit, considering it was only a few years ago he nearly incited a brawl by calling Salvy Perez "boy."

I mean, Posey missed almost all of 2011 and had to have his ankle completely rebuilt because Scott Cousins bowled him over at the plate (possibly the only notable thing that Cousins did in his entire career), and every Bay Area fan was screaming for him to get plunked every time he came up to bat against the Giants that year (and the year after, as I recall), but Bochy gave explicit instructions to the pitching staff not to go after him.

 

Root covers the entirety of the state of Texas, so he'd need a cable subscription. I believe all of Texas and Louisiana are covered under both the Astros' and Rangers' territorial rights, in fact.

Edit: Oh, God, Dusty Baker already gave his "We don't start trouble, but we certainly don't take trouble lying down" tough guy talk yesterday after the game. Hopefully if the Nats feel they have to bean somebody (please don't, Dusty, even though you're a moron and I expect nothing less of you), it won't be the guy who's fresh off the concussion DL and spent the brawl standing off to the side looking on disapprovingly.

 

Six-game suspension for Strickland, four for Harper.

Also, LOL at this lineup that's more embarrassing than the beanball, Bochy knows someone's getting hit: