I’ve had an interesting conversation with some Brewers fans on Twitter in the past few minutes. It started when a guy named @brewfangrb called me and a couple others out for being critical of Nyjer Morgan in the wake of last night’s dustup with the Cardinals. The point wasn’t to defend Morgan -- the guy and many others who later took up his argument were clear that Morgan wasn’t being a model citizen last night -- but to ask why no one ever criticizes Albert Pujols.
So I asked: what’s on Pujols’ rap sheet? Because I can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone talk about him in the way people talk about Nyjer Morgan. And it’s that equivalency that is important because it was the unequal treatment that set my critics off.
In response to my question I got (a) a link to an incident in 2006 when he said that Tom Glavine “wasn’t very good” even though he beat the Cardinals; and (b) I got many references to the fact that Pujols hot dogs his home runs (which he certainly does). But beyond that ....? Really, how is Albert Pujols a jerk worthy of equal condemnation to Nyjer Morgan, who has been a serial jackass throughout his major league career? And has less than a scintilla of a percentage of Pujols’ baseball accomplishments under his belt? And yes that matters. If you can back your stuff up you should be afforded a little more latitude. That’s how cockiness and its attendant behavior works.
So sure, Pujols probably didn’t need to run across the field last night, as it did likely escalate things. But let’s keep in mind the entirety of the situation. Nyjer Morgan has a track record of charging the mound. He was clearly trying to provoke something last night. If there is a situation where the biggest guy on the field can feel justified about getting between his pitcher and trouble that’s it.
But Pujols-as-jackass? Sorry, folks. Unless you can cite some examples apart from “he beats the crap out of my team all the time and I hate him for it,” I’m not buying.
UPDATE: I was just tweeted this link by its author. It’s a couple of years old, but it adds to the conversation I suppose. Pujols smirks on occasion, in a manner that allows a Brewers fan to fill the smirk with meaning. OK.
UPDATE: Another data point: Pujols once complained that he was snubbed for the MVP and that the MVP should come from a playoff team. The fact that the MVP went to Ryan Howard that year is enough -- if I say any more about it -- to set off the biggest comment sh**storm this blog has ever seen, so I’ll leave it alone.