Marc Carig of Newsday has some juicy gossip. It’s not attributed to any one source -- it’s more of a word on the street thing -- but he’s hearing that the Kansas City Royals are “signaling their intent to seek retribution against the Mets on Opening Night.”
Retribution for what? For that pitch Noah Syndergaard sent toward Alcides Escobar’s head in Game 3 of the World Series.
The pitch, you may remember, was clearly intentional. It was foreshadowed by Syndergaard saying that he had a few “tricks up his sleeve” to deal with Escobar’s habit of jumping on first-pitch fastballs in the Series’ first two games.
You may also remember, however, that the pitch didn’t come too far inside. It tailed in towards Escobar, but it was really just a super high pitch that didn’t actually enter the batters box. And it had no real bearing on anything. Yes, the Mets won that Game 3 but it wasn’t because of that pitch (the Royals actually took a 1-0 lead off Syndergaard that inning). And in no case did it affect the World Series in any way. The Royals, you may remember, won it. And won pretty convincingly.
If winning the World Series and having five months to relax isn’t enough to cause them to get the heck over a single inconsequential pitch maybe they should seek counseling.
[mlbvideo id="526920883" width="600" height="336" /]