Baseball’s unwritten rules tend to create eye-for-an-eye situations, but the Houston Astros are not happy with what happened to Jake Marisnick. Marisnick was plunked in last night’s game with the Los Angeles Angels, and both the Astros and Houston media members were upset afterward.
Trash organization, trash manager, trash fans cheering a trash “pitch.” And @JSMarisnick stays classy through the whole thing. @astros #Angels #TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/jRabh2fpjl
— Adam Clanton (@adamclanton) July 17, 2019
Marisnick might have been hit in retaliation for barreling over Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy in a play at the plate last week. After that game was over, Marisnick apologized for the play, and MLB ruled that he would be suspended for two games. The Astros’ outfielder has appealed the decision, but the Angels have not forgotten about Lucroy.
Finger-waggin' Albert Pujols was about to take on the Astros dugout by himself. pic.twitter.com/IeLCQ7ZKqt
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 17, 2019
After Marisnick was hit, he calmly shrugged it off and jogged to second, but Albert Pujols started to escalate things after some words were exchanged between himself and the Astros bench. That led to the benches clearing for a moment, but Marisnick himself played peacekeeper.
Jake Marisnick was telling his own teammates, namely Lance McCullers, to quit with the jawing. pic.twitter.com/iMIrHbHYuP
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 17, 2019
The Angels won the game 7-2, but after the game Houston manager AJ Hinch was livid. He went off on baseball’s unwritten rules, the Angels, and just about everything related to the situation in some colorful postgame remarks. Hinch’s anger stemmed mostly from the fact that Marisnick was hit up and in, rather than between the shoulder blades or on the posterior.
More of what Hinch had to say postgame in reaction to Marisnick getting hit by Ramirez: pic.twitter.com/OpqShv6JH5
— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) July 17, 2019
Angels’ manager Brad Ausmus and reliever Noe Ramirez both claim that the pitch was an accident and not revenge motivated, but the Astros aren’t buying it.
Noé Ramirez on the Jake Marisnick incident: “I was just trying to sneak a fastball by him…it got away from me.”
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 17, 2019
This whole series of incidents has spurred a larger conversation regarding whether we should do away with retaliation in particular and baseball’s unwritten rules as a whole. Every summer we seem to have some variation of this story, and it just might be time to be done with the whole thing. With the amount of money involved in the game these days, it’s just not worth it.
Astros outfielder Jake Marisnick was plunked on Tuesday, seemingly in retaliation for his recent collision with Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Does MLB need to crack down on players policing themselves? pic.twitter.com/xOY893Cgo9
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 17, 2019
H/T The Athletic and Sports Illustrated
