Tag: Fernando Tatis Jr.

The Padres hit a grand slam in the first inning of Tuesday’s game and MLB fans had jokes

Are the unwritten-rules dorks OK with this?!

In cased you missed it, San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. angered a lot of dorks Monday night when he had the gall(!) to do his job against the Rangers and hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch in the 8th inning that gave the Padres an 11-run lead.

I mean, come on. Those lame unwritten rules of baseball need to go away forever. The Rangers could have scored eight runs over the final two innings and it’s the Padres job to build their lead, which Tatis did by swinging at a pitch and sending it over the wall.

Well, on Tuesday the Padres and Rangers played again and San Diego had the gall(!) to hit another grand slam, this one in the first inning by Wil Myers:

Are the Rangers OK with the Padres doing that or is that a rude thing to do in the first inning?

MLB fans had jokes:

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MLB fans are pointing out the hypocrisy of the Rangers criticizing Fernando Tatis Jr.

This continues to be ridiculous.

You probably don’t need statistics or anecdotal evidence to point out that the argument over whether Fernando Tatis Jr. broke some antiquated dumb unwritten baseball rules by hitting home run on a 3-0 pitch with the bases loaded late in a game in which his San Diego Padres are up by seven runs.

Heck, you already have Major Leaguers — included some former ones who are Hall of Famers — defending Tatis, as they should.

But there are MLB fans and writers on Twitter who are noting how hypocritical this whole absurd business is.

Let’s start with this: the number of times home runs have been hit on 3-0 counts with a big lead, some of which come late in games:

Were Robin Ventura, Jay Buhner, Tony Batista (twice!!), Juan Gonzalez, Hideki Matsui, Manny Machado et al thrown at or called out for breaking the rules?

And then there’s this moment from last year in which the Rangers were called out for breaking unwritten rules, when they were managed by Chris Woodward, the very same manager who said “I didn’t like it, personally” about Tatis’s homer?

The Rangers let a pop fly drop so Mike Minor could get to 200 strikeouts:

Maybe Woodward’s experiences have something to do with why he’s somehow against late grand slams in blowouts.

Whatever it is, it’s all ridiculous, especially when you look at all of this.

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MLB players defend Fernando Tatis Jr. for hitting grand slam on 3-0 count

They agree its ridiculous.

We’ve already been over this after Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a grand slam on a 3-0 count in which the San Diego Padres were up by seven runs late in a win over the Texas Rangers, but here’s the tl;dr after the Texas Rangers got mad: unwritten MLB rules are dumb, throwing behind the next guy up is dumber, and giving one of the most exciting players in baseball grief for hitting a home run is the dumbest.

We aren’t the only ones who think so. Players including Hall of Famer Johnny Bench and current pitchers like Trevor Bauer and Eduardo Rodriguez came to Tatis Jr.’s defense on Twitter:

Ridiculous. Glad other pros agree.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. shouldn’t have to apologize for anything after angering Rangers with grand slam

This is so absurd.

San Diego Padres infielder Fernando Tatis Jr. is amazing at baseball and has proven it so far in the 2020 season, hitting his league-leading 11th home run on Monday night.

But because of the dumb “unwritten rules” of the sport that should have been thrown out a long, long time ago, that home run ticked off the Texas Rangers and led to Tatis apologizing for something he should NEVER have to say sorry about.

Here was the situation: it was the top of the eighth inning and the Padres were up 10-3 with the bases loaded. On a 3-0 pitch, Tatis hit a dinger for a grand slam, his second homer on the night:

On the very next pitch, Rangers pitcher Ian Gibaut threw a fastball behind Manny Machado:

Apparently, Tatis missed a sign to take that pitch, because it’s unwritten that when you’re up so much so late, you shouldn’t pile on the runs. That is absolutely absurd! Haven’t we seen bullpens blow seven-run leads on occasion? And, most important of all, we love home runs, especially grand slams! This is good for the game.

The quotes from Padres manager Jayce Tingler are infuriating (via USA TODAY Sports):

“Heā€™s young, a free spirit and focused and all those things,” said Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “Thatā€™s the last thing that weā€™ll ever take away. Itā€™s a learning opportunity and thatā€™s it. Heā€™ll grow from it.

“Just so you know, a lot of our guys have green light 3-0. But in this game in particular, we had a little bit of a comfortable lead. Weā€™re not trying to run up the score or anything like that.”

The same goes for the opposing manager, Chris Woodward:

There’s a lot of unwritten rules that are constantly being challenged in today’s game. I didn’t like it, personally,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “You’re up by seven in the eighth inning; it’s typically not a good time to swing 3-0. It’s kind of the way we were all raised in the game. But, like I said, the norms are being challenged on a daily basis. So just because I donā€™t like it doesnā€™t mean itā€™s not right. I donā€™t think we liked it as a group.”

Yes! The norms should be challenged! Grand slams are great no matter what the situation is. If you don’t want a player swinging on 3-0 with the bases loaded in a blowout, pitch better.

And Tatis apologized, which was unnecessary:

This is exactly the kind of stuff that’s bad for the game at a time when it needs all the positives it can get. Enough of this “unwritten rules” stuff that leads to throwing at or behind hitters — especially the next guy who had nothing to do with the previous home run. C’mon.

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