Tag: Fernando Tatis Jr.

Max Muncy’s reaction perfectly summed up Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting a homer out of Dodger Stadium

LOL

Fun fact: Before Thursday night, a baseball had been hit out of Dodgers Stadium four times.

Now, Fernando Tatis Jr. sent the fifth ball out of the Los Angeles Dodgers home in the San Diego Padres’ loss.

The superstar shortstop joined Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza and Willie Stargel (who did it twice!) with the feat thanks to a 467-foot blast that went off the top of a pavilion and out.

So how do you sum up that dinger? Let’s go to Dodgers infielder Max Muncy, who had the perfect reaction of awe and disbelief at the same time.

But first … the home run!

Video breakdown showed what happened in Manny Machado’s heated exchange with Fernando Tatis Jr.

The Padres are falling apart.

For most of the season, the San Diego Padres — led by MVP candidate Fernando Tatis Jr. — had been in position to earn a playoff spot out of the stacked NL West. That changed in a matter of days thanks to a brutal 2-8 stretch.

The Padres now find themselves 3.5 games out of the final wild card spot with the Reds and Phillies in front of them in the standings. And as the Padres’ playoff hopes slipped away in St. Louis, frustrations boiled over right in plain view.

During Saturday’s loss to the Cardinals, video hit social media of Manny Machado yelling in the face of Tatis Jr. right in the dugout. The two players were separated, but Machado took issue with Tatis’ reaction to striking out earlier in the inning. Thankfully, the full context of the altercation was broken down brilliantly by the folks at Jomboy Media. Here’s their latest breakdown video. (NSFW language)

While Machado was clearly animated, he was generally trying to get Tatis to focus on the game and have him move on. After all, he was literally calling Tatis the “best player in the world.” Those aren’t exactly fighting words.

Given that Padres manager Jayce Tingler went out there and got ejected in defense of Tatis, though, it was easy to see why Machado was upset. It was a crucial game, and the Padres just lost their manager because the star player threw a tantrum over a couple strike calls (and they were actually correct calls). But as the video pointed out, Machado probably could’ve had that conversation away from cameras. By doing that out in the open, his attempt to re-focus Tatis became a distraction in itself.

On the bright side, the two players seemed to resolve their issues come Sunday. They were seen smiling together in the dugout.

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

So, that was nice at least. The Padres still lost, 8-7, on Sunday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. double-jumped in mid-air for this insane grab like a video game character

WOW.

Is Fernando Tatis Jr. a character in Super Smash Bros?

Because his leaping catch on Monday in a San Diego Padres loss to the Washington Nationals sure made it look like he jumped … and then got extra air with a second jump in mid-air!

It looked unreal, like it was straight out of a video game in which you could break the laws of physics. But that’s Tatis, whose athleticism knows no bounds.

This was so good that you have to watch it a few times, from multiple angles, and to see some of the reaction to the incredible play:

MLB fans were in awe after Fernando Tatis Jr. did a mind-bending split to avoid being hit by a pitch

How is this even humanly possible?

I think it’s fair to say that Fernando Tatis Jr. is not of this world, or else he should have broken every bone in his leg attempting this move. On Saturday, during the San Diego Padres game against the Houston Astros, Tatis was up to bat in the top of the eighth with two men on base on an 0-2 count when he had to jump out of the way of a pitch.

Not only did Tatis do a full split to make it happen, his right leg moved in a way no human should have been able to make it move, kicking it out before falling into an unexpectedly graceful split.

It’s equal parts incredible, fascinating, and honestly kinda gross, depending on your tolerance for the human body.

MLB fans instantly took notice of Tatis’ freakish athletic ability and took to social media to praise the shortstop for the play, on which he was somehow not hurt by!

This isn’t even the first time this month we’ve seen Tatis pull off the splits, as he showcased his moves after stealing a base against the Colorado Rockies in mid-May.

Not only that, Tatis came back the next inning and launched a bomb of a home run to tie the game up for the Padres with two outs in the ninth.

Tatis is just a freakishly athletic human being and we are not worthy of his greatness.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. amazingly did a full split to hold the bag after a stolen base

Fernando Tatis is back and doing splits.

It’s safe to say that baseball has missed Fernando Tatis Jr. the past 10 days, and it didn’t take long for him to remind us why.

He just makes the game fun — even when he doesn’t mean to.

Tatis was back in the Padres’ lineup on Wednesday for the first time since May 9 after he tested positive for COVID-19. In his first plate appearance back against the Rockies, Tatis reached on a single to center. And with Eric Hosmer at the plate, Tatis looked to get aggressive on the base path.

He also showed off his flexibility with one of the more astonishing over-slide recoveries you’ll see on a stolen base.

As Tatis took off into second, the momentum from his feet-first slide took him beyond the bag. But somehow, Tatis managed to hold the bag while basically breaking out a full split to keep his foot on second.

I guess we know who stretched before the game.

But really, flexibility aside, just being able to hold the bag there was impressive. You can see how Trevor Story was ready to apply the tag on Tatis if he came off.

Despite that objectively fun effort, the Padres would be unable to score Tatis as he’d get stranded on third.

Welcome back, though. Baseball definitely missed that energy.

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Trevor Bauer and Fernando Tatis Jr. mocked each other on Twitter over apparent sign stealing

Tatis Jr. may have stole the sign before his home run.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are quickly forming one of the most entertaining rivalries in MLB thanks to the Padres’ ultra-talented young core and the Dodgers’ perennial success.

That rivalry was in full swing on Saturday and carried over into Sunday.

This latest source of drama started when Fernando Tatis Jr. took reigning NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer deep in the Padres’ 5-4 loss. At the time, the homer gave San Diego the lead, and Tatis celebrated the moment accordingly. Even Bauer didn’t have any problem with Tatis’ showmanship.

But that sentiment somewhat changed when replays showed Tatis sneaking a look at the catcher’s sign before the pitch.

Tatis clearly looked down to see Will Smith’s sign. It wasn’t quite Astros-level sign stealing, but it’s still frowned upon. Once the video made rounds on Twitter, Bauer chimed in and told Tatis to simply ask for the pitch next time. After all, Bauer has been known to tell the batter the pitch for fun.

Tatis responded with an edited photo of Bauer’s face on a child in Tatis’ arms.

Yeah, Sunday’s series finale should be a fun one.

https://youtu.be/DFtlwTh8aXQ

 

OK. Fine. Trevor Bauer made a good point about not beaning batters after they celebrate.

Bauer explained why he was ok with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s showmanship after a home run.

Cue up that old Clickhole headline. The most unlikable pitcher in Major League Baseball said something that made a lot of sense and we should all just acknowledge it.

No, you don’t have to change your overall opinion of Trevor Bauer. He enjoys being toxic. He wants to stir things up for the sake of stirring things up, while simultaneously pretending he’s fearlessly speaking some difficult truth. He’s a troll. He’s deeply unlikeable.

But when it comes to the idea that pitchers should retaliate against batters who celebrate home runs … well, he’s on the right side of it.

Our Mary Clarke brought to you the tale of Fernando Tatis Jr. going deep on Bauer last night and absolutely owning him afterward. The shenanigans continued through the game.

Afterword, Bauer …. was reasonable?

Note about Mr. Braden’s note in the Tweet above: It’s OK if your “personal preference” tells you that you don’t like a person who has questioned whether humans contribute to climate change or where Barack Obama was born. That’s reasonable. Judging people by what they do and say is how it’s supposed to work, actually.

But Bauer does have a solid view on the events of last night. It starts around the :43 mark. Here’s the heart of it:

“I like it. I think that pitchers who have that done to them and react by throwing at people or you know getting upset and hitting people or whatever, I think it’s pretty soft. If you give up a homer, a guy should celebrate it. It’s hard to hit in the big leagues. I’m all for it and I think it’s important that the game moves in that direction and we stop throwing at people because they celebrated having some success on the field.”

Bauer went on to describe his back and forth with Eric Hosmer, wherein they traded “sword celebrations” after individual successes, and explained that he thinks that’s all part of competition and should be embraced.

And, well, yes.

Baseball’s stodgy adherence to some unspoken code definitely makes the game more difficult to relate to. Because as Bauer notes, it IS incredibly difficult. Of course players should celebrate. Makes it feel more human.

About this, Bauer has a point.

About many other things, he’s just talking to rile.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. mocks Trevor Bauer with hand-over-eye celebration after deep home run

The trolling here from Fernando Tatis Jr. is off the charts!

Fernando Tatis Jr. was out for blood on Saturday and delivered some top quality trolling while he was at it. On the second pitch of the Los Angeles Dodgers game against the San Diego Padres, Tatis went yard off Trevor Bauer to get things going for the visitors early.

For starters, the home run was an absolute moonshot out to left field for Tatis’ sixth of the season. With the Padres having won the first two games of the series against the Dodgers, Tatis’ home run was a great start to continuing the streak.

But his celebration after the fact is where things get fun.

While it’s not originally noticeable on the initial play, the replays of the home run clearly show that Tatis is holding a hand over his eye, a direct retort to Bauer and his spring training shenanigans.

In March, Bauer famously started pitching with one eye closed, a move he adopted for a bit of fun to start off the year.

“I figured if they can’t score off me with one eye open, it’s gonna be difficult to score off me with two eyes open,” Bauer said to reporters during spring training in March.

Tatis opted for quite the top-quality trolling of Bauer on this home run celebration, getting in the last laugh after taking the pitcher deep on just the second pitch of the game.

We don’t often see dunks this hard in baseball, but Tatis — literally and figuratively — knocked it out of the park here.

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Dustin May brought Fernando Tatis Jr. to his knees with a perfectly placed 98 mph pitch

Just silly.

We’ve grown so accustomed over the past decade to seeing big-league pitchers consistently throwing around 100 mph. It seems like most teams have a bullpen full guys who can throw 96, 97, 98 mph. So, it’s hardly worth getting carried away about velocity.

But for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May, it’s not just his velocity that has wowed MLB fans (and players) this season: It’s his ability to make baseballs seemingly violate the laws of physics.

Earlier in the season, May struck out Padres slugger Manny Machado with a gravity-defying 99 mph two-seamer. Fast forward to Wednesday, and May was back to picking on the Padres’ talented lineup with a ridiculous array of pitches.

Just look at what this 98 mph fastball did to Fernando Tatis Jr. It brought Tatis to his knees.

There aren’t too many pitchers out there who can make Tatis look silly at the plate, but the pitches that May threw in that at-bat were just unfair.

Like, how is anyone supposed to hit that? It doesn’t seem possible.

May also came through with a 100 mph two-seamer that broke around 18 inches.

I can only imagine what that pitch looks like from a hitter’s perspective. Baseballs shouldn’t be able to move like that.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. is the hero that stupid baseball needs right now

Fernando Tatis Jr. likes to have fun… which is fun!

With one swing of the bat on Monday night Fernando Tatis Jr. angered a bunch of old-school dorks and became a hero to those who actually like it when something fun happens in baseball, which can be a really boring game.

And I’m (not really) sorry to all those unwritten-rules clowns who don’t like it, but Tatis did more great for the game with that grand slam of his on a 3-0 pitch than Rob Manfred has even come close to doing during his pathetic run as commissioner of MLB.

Tatis, if you missed it, made some people mad when he did his job and drove a 3-0 pitch over the wall in a 7-run game in the 8th inning. Apparently the dumb unwritten rules don’t stand for things like that, which is silly and embarrassing for the game of baseball.

For some reason there are still people out there who think professional athletes should stop doing their jobs when they have a big lead, like this is some tee-ball game with 8 year olds who don’t want to hurt the feelings of other 8 year olds.

This isn’t tee ball, though. This is professional baseball. If a team doesn’t like seeing a guy doing something good for their team then maybe they should be better at their jobs and don’t serve up a gopher ball.

Tatis is now a hero to all those, like me, who want those old-school ways to be shot into the sun. He even took it another step further on Tuesday when he stole third base with the Padres leading 6-0. Imagine the arrogance of trying to play the game hard and doing what you can to help your team win!

The only bad thing Tatis has done is apologize for his grand slam. He has nothing to apologize for, at all. Instead, he should be celebrated.

Baseball has had a rough few years, with the Astros cheating their way to a World Series and then having a commissioner who didn’t think any of those players should be punished.

It has felt like baseball would prefer being a niche sport enjoyed by old-timers who don’t want to see things get better and more entertaining, which is just dumb.

Tuesday was a bad day for baseball as the sport was rightly ridiculed by players and fans all day long on Twitter. While the NBA and NHL playoffs continue to deliver an entertaining product, baseball is busy yelling about a guy swinging at a hittable pitch during a game that he is paid to perform in.

Tatis likes to have fun, which is fun. We need more players like Tatis and less of the bores who are offended by someone breaking unwritten rules that are unwritten for a reason – because they are embarrassing.

I hope Tatis swings at every 3-0 pitch he sees for the rest of his career.

And I hope that baseball gets with the times and stops being so damn lame.

Quick hits: Lopez gets angry at bench chair… Poker player’s brutal bad beat… Jalen Hurts’ awesome new backpack… And more!

– Brook Lopez took his frustrations out on one of the bench chairs during the Bucks’ stunning Game 1 loss to the Orlando Magic.

– Poker pro Daniel Negreanu suffered an absolutely horrible bad beat during the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event and his reaction was perfect.

– Jalen Hurts got a great new backpack that one of his youngest fans is going to love.

– The Indy 500 is this weekend and here’s the celebratory milk of choice for each driver. Milk is gross, by the way.

– Netflix cancelled ‘Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj’ and the internet was not happy about it.