Tim Peterson
By Tim Peterson
I don’t understand the criticism directed at Jose Tabata of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals hit Tabata Saturday with two outs in the ninth inning preventing Scherzer from throwing a perfect game.
Some thought Tabata should have made more of an attempt to get out of the way while others say he may have even leaned into the pitch. One talk show host on Sunday morning went as far as to call Tabata’s play “Bush League”. Well if the Bush League is competitive then maybe it was.
What do I say? Great job Jose Tabata. If you have to bunt to break up a no hitter you bunt. I don’t care if the score is 10-0. If you have to get hit by a pitch to ruin a perfect game, you get plunked.
You don’t want to be the guy that gets no hit or the guy who has a perfect game thrown at you. It goes against everything an athlete has been taught. They’re taught to win at all costs, compete and battle until the end. Heck, if Tabata jumped in front of the plate to take a fastball in the hip then so be it.
It’s like when a football team gets upset because a team is throwing the ball in the fourth quarter when they’re up by 30. Well, do something about it. Stop whining and start playing.
Jose Tabata was still playing, still competing. He didn’t want Scherzer to throw a perfect game against him. So he did something about it.
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I’ve always been a Mike Scioscia fan. I liked him when he was catching for the Dodgers and up until recently I thought he has been solid as the manager of the Angels. He did, after all, lead them to their only World Series championship. But do you realize that championship was 13 years ago? The Angels have continually come up short in the years that have followed including last year’s embarrassing three game sweep by Kansas City. They’ve failed despite having one of the highest payrolls in the majors.
As of right now, the Angels are 35-35, in third place in the AL West, 5.5 games behind the Houston Astros. Yeah, the Astros are better. If this holds up Scioscia should be fired in October. Or better yet, Arte Moreno should shake things up and do it now. Not a big Angel guy, but things seem to be stagnant down in Anaheim. Angel honks. Any thoughts?
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It’s not that I wanted Cleveland to lose because I dislike LeBron James. It’s just that no team with Matthew Dellavadova and Iman Schumpert on the roster should ever win a championship. Thank you Warriors.
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Former Mid-Valley Staffer/current Chino assistant coach Big George Hernandez loves LeBron James and Alex Rodriguez. I’ll give you Lebron George. Dude is a great player, arguably the best in the world today. But sorry, I’m not dancing with Rodriguez. I’m not coming around on A-Fraud.
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40.
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