The only people who didn’t think Jose Bautista’s bat flip after sending a three-run bomb into the stratosphere wasn’t the greatest thing to happen in baseball since the end of racial segregation was the team who it happened against. Naturally.
I have no dog in this years playoff baseball fight, but when I saw that flip, chills emerged on every square inch of my body. So don’t you dare come at me with the tired “respect the game” argument. That moment was provocative. It’s what the people wanted!
Unless you’re in the Rangers camp, then, well, you weren’t so pleased.
This series of tweets coming from Barry Svrluga, a Washington Post baseball writer, who caught up with Rangers pitcher Sam Dyson post-game. Dyson was the pitcher who gave up the moon shot.
Sam Dyson on The Flip: (1/2): “Jose needs to calm that down, just kind of respect the game a little more. He’s a huge role model for …”
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
“”
Dyson (2/3): “the younger generation that’s coming up playing this game, and I mean he’s doing stuff that kids do in Wiffle ball games … — Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
Dyson (3/3): ” … and backyard baseball. It shouldn’t be done.”
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
Everyone’s a saint when void of an opportunity to celebrate.
Says Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels by way of MLB writer Jeff Wilson:
Cole Hamels: “It’s hard to be politically correct. It’s tough to see. A lot of us on our team don’t carry ourselves that way.” — Jeff Wilson (@JeffWilson_FWST) October 15, 2015
Bautista’s response to the criticism is plain, simple, and on point:
Here’s @JoeyBats19 dropping the greatest one word answer OF ALL TIME pic.twitter.com/IAD4qNEGqO
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) October 15, 2015
“”NBC sports writer Craig Calcaterra sums it up perfectly:
The best paragraph written about @JoeyBats19‘s bat flip and the Rangers’ response: http://t.co/W01DMYM5WGpic.twitter.com/DoPyfx2NyQ — Adam C-F (@AdamCF) October 15, 2015
Lesson to kids out there: Baseball can be awesome. P.S. The warranted vitriol should be directed at the neanderthal Blue Jays fan who were in attendance last night spraying beer at babies and hucking shit onto the field. Act like you’ve been there before. “”
[h/t Uproxx]