Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting grand slam home run in game against Texas Rangers
Rising star Fernando Tatis Jr. found himself in the news after Monday night’s major league baseball game between Tatis Jr’s San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers.
Apparently, Tatis broke an unwritten rule by swinging at a 3-0 pitch while his team was enjoying a seven run lead. Apparently, players are supposed to take the 3-0 pitch.
Anyway, the swing produced a grand slam home run, which angered the Rangers. I, for one, loved it.
My response to the Rangers is to play and pitch better so they do not fall behind by seven runs. And how about getting some outs before the bases get loaded. How about not falling behind in the count repeatedly. All Tatis Jr. did was his job, hit the ball where it was pitched. He did his job. The Rangers’ pitcher did not.
In case you missed it, the grand slam was the second-year player’s first career grand slam and Tatis Jr. now leads baseball with 11 home runs this season.
I don’t know about you, but I would prefer watching a homerun versus a bases loaded walk. And if Tatis Jr. did not hit the slam, the game would have gotten much closer as Texas later scored four runs, which would have made it a three-run game if Tatis did not perform his exploits. These days, no lead is safe in baseball.
This is professional baseball. Hearing professional players whine over something like this is annoying. Even more annoying is that the Rangers responded by having their pitcher throw a pitch behind the next hitter. Annoying and cowardly.
Another reason unwritten rules may start to fade away is the fact that baseball players’ contracts often include bonuses for stats such as home runs and grand slams. Again, Tatis Jr. did his job. The Rangers did not.
