NEWTONIAN BASEBALL

While I'm a firm believer in the Newtonian approach to baseball; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; I also believe a healthy dose of the Einsteinian approach sometimes makes more sense; around a source of great gravitation, time slows down.

I'm referring to the absence of the $20M man from the mound today. Roger Clemens was sitting out his suspension for plunking Alex Rios in retaliation for the earlier plunking of Mr."Ha Ha" (Alex Rodriguez ... OT ... my dad said something interesting about A. Rod last week. I said that he would probably end up with the home run title within 8 - 10 years if he can avoid major injury. My dad disagreed and said he'd find a way to blow it. He elaborated by saying that A. Rod. is one of those odd people in life that you see or meet that actually get more stupid as they get older! Something I'd never thought about, but it's worth considering.). The Yankees lost today. While it's hard to say what might have happened, one thing is certain. The guy who pitched today is paid FAR less than the guy who was sitting on the bench when he should have been pitching.

For that matter I could have plunked Alex Rios for FREE. (Sorry Alex Rios ... if I was given the chance to throw one MLB pitch and I was told to throw at you ... I'd do it.)

I believe that the use of chin music and the brush back BELONGS in baseball. It is a necessary part of the game for pitchers to help them control the strike zone and keep even skinny kids from leaning out whenever they want and getting 20 dingers a year. I even believe that the retaliatory plunking of a batter once in a while is part of the game. While I believe that the DH has made the pitcher less fearful of getting hit themselves, pitcher's won't last too long if they display indiscreet use of the intentional hit batter.

This is what I mean by the "Newtonian" approach to baseball. For every action, you can expect an equal and opposite reaction. This is not problematic. But as Einstein opened our minds to a new universe, I think it is wisdom to recognize that while time may be relative, it never stops; choose how long to wait and don't lose a $20M pitcher to exact revenge. That was a $1M plus pitch that Clemens threw that hit Rios (Clemens missed a start today ... at least $1M if he makes it to 20 starts by the end of the season, which is doubtful ... but I digress ... you get the point), and I don't think it was wise to choose him as the tool for immediate retribution. Clemens isn't paid to make these kinds of decisions, and we'll never know if Joe Torre told him to do it, but I doubt it. Clemens has never been shy about pitching inside. But any reliever could have served to send that message later in the game, and at much less cost to the Yankees. Newton recommends reaction ... Einstein adds time and patience. At least this makes sense of the universe to me.