Johan Santana Fined Over Beaning

by quincy0191 on Aug 19, 2009 10:44 PM PDT Comment 36 comments

Johan Santana of the New York Mets has been fined after throwing at both Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina three innings after David Wright was hit in the head with a pitch by Matt Cain on August 15th. As Giants fans, we have to ask: where does this leave us?

Cain’s beaning of Wright was clearly unintentional. There is no bad blood between the Mets and Giants, there is no evidence of a problem between Cain and Wright, and Matt’s response to the hit both initially (walking off the mound and looking pretty horrified) and after a while (leaving a message for Wright at the hospital, talking to him a few days after the fact) did nothing to indicate otherwise. Cain clearly felt bad about it, yet there were those in the Mets fanbase calling for Cain’s ass. But enough about the gays.

Anyway, the screams of "IT WAS INTENTIONAL" and "SUSPEND CAIN!" from complete idiots thankfully went nowhere. But what about Santana, who said, "I feel like I have to protect my teammates. You can call that whatever you want. We’re in it together" (Source)? Doesn’t that, and the fact that he threw at two batters, back-to-back, warrant a suspension?

I’m not usually one to say a guy needs to be suspended (hell, Santana’s on my fantasy team and I like the guy), but MLB is trying to prevent this kind of retaliation (again, not something I agree with, because that’s a part of the game). Given what Johan did, and what he said about it, I’m not sure you could want any more convincing evidence that he was intentionally throwing at Sandoval and Molina. So: should Santana be suspended? Do we want Santana to be suspended for throwing at our players

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I think a fine is appropriate...

If he’d gone truly head hunting, then maybe a suspension, but I do believe that this is the appropriate punishment. The reason why I wanted him ejected, even if he was being removed from the game, is the mandatory financial reprimand he’d receive for his actions, not getting him out of the game (frankly, the Giants were doing quite well against him). This satisfies that, IMO.

It’s done. I’m ready to move on.

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by BruteSentiment on Aug 19, 2009 11:43 PM PDT reply actions

Well said, Brute.

I'm thinking but nothing's happening.

by JRPhillips on Aug 20, 2009 9:33 AM PDT up reply actions

Bud Selig FTW!

The very bad man traded my son...So now I'd like you all to meet my new son, Ryan "Aaron" Garko...Dammit it's just not the same!

by boonitez on Aug 19, 2009 11:45 PM PDT reply actions

Bob Watson FTW!

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time."

by Azantor on Aug 20, 2009 9:08 AM PDT up reply actions

I guarantee you his teammates will pass the hat and pay the fine for him.

Disfrute Los Gigantes every day at www.leftymalo.com

by leftymalo on Aug 20, 2009 12:03 AM PDT reply actions

There seems to be less suspensions this year over beanings. Mota was only fined for hitting Prince Fielder when Milwaukee was in LA.

It Is Their Ignorance That Keeps Them From Recognizing The Truth

by SFGuy on Aug 20, 2009 12:46 AM PDT reply actions

He did it the right way (except for missing pablo.) Nobody got hurt and nobody went headhunting, and thats the way the game has been played forever. Let him give up his per diem for a week and move on. No reason to suspend him

by m34josh on Aug 20, 2009 1:25 AM PDT reply actions

I’m not going to rehash the same points over again, but how did he do it the “right way?” Matt Cain batted after the incident and Santana didn’t throw at him. He then threw at Sandoval when it was obvious he was going to lose the game and he then threw at Molina because Sandoval took him deep. Why is throwing at TWO players after you’re now trailing doing it the right way?

embarrassed father of over the hill Edgardo Renteria

by rxmeister on Aug 20, 2009 6:44 AM PDT up reply actions

There’s no right way to throw at people. I don’t care how long they’ve been doing it in baseball.

He did it the safer way, but it’s still a bs thing to do.

Context, people. More context is good. Less context is bad. If you're willing to be reductive, then you're willing to be wrong.

by howtheyscored on Aug 20, 2009 7:25 AM PDT up reply actions

So maybe I should’ve have typed correct way, not right way. Like I said, he screwed up on Pablo. He should’ve hit him in the ass and it all would’ve been over but for whatever reason, he didn’t. But he did hit Bengie in what has been an “acceptable” way for the last 100 years in baseball. He didn’t try and send him to the hospital, he didn’t talk shit to either Pablo or Bengie in an attempt to get the benches cleared and draw further suspensions. He winged Bengie and it was over

One thing I am curious about is what was the point of the warning if the umps don’t act on it immediately

by m34josh on Aug 20, 2009 11:27 AM PDT up reply actions

One thing I am curious about is what was the point of the warning if the umps don’t act on it immediately

- Exactly

by Jakespaar on Aug 20, 2009 3:01 PM PDT up reply actions

I give the NY media some credit for ripping Santana on this issue. Filip Bondy of the Daily News said it was ridiculous and dangerous for Santana to retaliate for something that was clearly an accident and he should have been suspended. Bill Madden chided him as well for the way he handled it and the stupid interview he gave after the game.

embarrassed father of over the hill Edgardo Renteria

by rxmeister on Aug 20, 2009 6:42 AM PDT reply actions

Yeah. It’s time to move on from this. But I’d be more than happy to contribute to a thread about Matt Cain’s ass.

by TheLetter2 on Aug 20, 2009 7:19 AM PDT reply actions

And well he should be.

Context, people. More context is good. Less context is bad. If you're willing to be reductive, then you're willing to be wrong.

by howtheyscored on Aug 20, 2009 7:25 AM PDT reply actions

I guess this is mlb’s way of saying the umps were wrong and Bochy was right; Santana was indeed throwing at Molina.

since a warning had been issued, Santana should have been tossed from the game.

"We're in this thing!" My adopted Giant: "Raptor Jesus" Guzman, "Sweet Jesus" Guzman and Jesus H. Guzman.

by Goofus on Aug 20, 2009 8:10 AM PDT reply actions

Watch it, the Umpire Union might try to get Grant to fine, suspend or DFA you.

I R 5

by say hey nation on Aug 20, 2009 8:14 AM PDT up reply actions

"since a warning had been issued"-- so?

That doesn’t make the next HBP an automatic ejection. The umpire may eject any pitcher at any time — with or without a warning — if thinks the pitcher threw intentionally to hit the batter. If a 2nd HBP is unintentional in the umpire’s judgment, an ejection is not supported by the rules.

Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit... Maybe.

by Mayor of 311 on Aug 20, 2009 2:41 PM PDT up reply actions