It has been a long time since the Toronto Blue Jays organization have had a position player with the mental makeup and testicular fortitude of Clint Eastwood in, well, pretty much every movie he’s ever been in.
The Jays have had a plethora of pitchers with that bulldog, ‘take no prisoners’ mentality: Doc Halladay, Pat Hengten, Roger Clemens (albeit chemically enhanced), Jack Morris and Dave Steib. For some reason, which ultimately may just be a coincidence, the team has never had a physical presence in their everyday lineup with a little bit of a mean streak.
Think back to some of the top hitters in recent Jays history: Vernon Wells, Carlos Delgado, Robbie Alomar. They’re all happy-go-lucky guys with primarily sunny dispositions who are always friendly with opposing players. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s nice to see a player who doesn’t treat each game like some 1960s love-in.
I want players who don’t like the other team and want to get under their skin. I want to see a little gumption and grit from my ball team from time to time, just so that I know their competitive fire still burns brightly.
That’s why I was ecstatic to see Jose Bautista’s actions during Monday night’s game against the Bronx Bombers. After hitting a home run against Yankees rookie righthander, Ivan Nova, early in the game, Nova buzzed him with a pitch high and tight in his next at-bat.
As a pitcher, I have no problem with throwing inside, in fact I deem it necessary; and if I happen to throw it so far inside that the hitter has leap out of the way of the pitch, then all the better. Whatever I can do to take the batter’s mind of hitting, I will do. However, I do have a problem with throwing at a guy’s head intentionally; that’s just cowardly.
That being said, I don’t think Nova was trying to hit Bautista on purpose and I loved that Jose didn’t automatically charge the mound. All he did was take a few steps towards Nova and question his intent with the pitch. Nova didn’t back down and they began jawing at each other animatedly and then both benches cleared.
For the record, I would have acted the same way Nova did. I don’t want a batter walking towards my mound questioning my pitches. Fuck you and get back in the batter’s box. The actions of both guys were fantastic. Just two warriors facing off in a showdown that was reminiscent of old time baseball.
Jose’s next at-bat was pure perfection. He hit his second home run of the game, and 40th on the year, off of David Robertson. Immediately after making contact, Bautista flipped his bat in the air in a wonderful pimp job and slowly, and I mean slowly, trudged around the bases. It took him 28 seconds to get back to home plate, where he pumped his fist repeatedly.
It was the first time in years that a Jay has stepped up against the Big, Bad Yankees and said that this team isn’t backing down. The only way Jose could have made the moment better, or a more egregious GFY to the entire Yankees was if he pulled down his pants at home plate and waved his dick at Joe Girardi.
Who knows, there’s still Game 3 tonight.
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