Kyle Seager was facing Jered Weaver in the fifth inning of last night’s Angels-M’s game. After a pitch that didn’t go where Weaver wanted it to go, Seager stepped out, stepped back in and did the call time thing as he dug in. Given that he hadn’t swung our fouled off the pitch before, baseball’s new speed-it-up rules regime requires Seager to stay in the box and get ready for the next pitch in a timely manner. He didn’t take a long walk around the block or anything, but yes, let us grant that Seager was being a bit pokey.
After Weaver came to get set again, Seager made a BIG show of calling for another time out from the ump. Which, OK, kind of a jackass move. But a pretty funny jackass move if we’re being honest. I mean, really, watch the video below and tell me you didn’t laugh when Seager called time at the 35 second mark. That’s comedy right there.
Weaver didn’t think it was very funny, though, and with his next pitch he plunked Seager and got ejected:
[mlbvideo id="484986883" width="600" height="336" /]
No matter how annoying Seager was being - and again, I’ll grant he was being something of a pain in the butt -- throwing a pitch at a batter on purpose is dangerous and idiotic and has no place in the game.
And no, Angels announcers, your immediate defense of Weaver on the play isn’t exactly a case of you covering yourself in glory either. “It’s almost as if Weaver had no choice but to throw something inside when you see [Seager] doing that,” the Angels color guy said. Which may be the dumbest thing a baseball announcer has said this year. A close second would be the immediately preceding comment condemning the umpire’s quick hook. The pitcher intentionally threw at the batter. That’s ejection-worthy. Should he have waited until next Tuesday to do it?
Pitches can injure. Pitchers have, in the past, killed. And I don’t care if you’ve got better control than Greg Maddux, a pitch can get away from you from time to time. Good for Weaver, I guess, for placing it on Seager’s triceps like I presume he wanted to. But an angry pitcher could have easily missed his mark down a few inches and shattered his elbow or up by a foot or so and beaned him. Even 83 m.p.h. heat can do serious damage.
I hope Weaver gets suspended for this. He damn well should be.