[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Ventura going at Bautista was a response to two things: Bautista calling out Ned Yost (who for all his shortcomings, is loved by his players) and Bautista being the center of the Royals' sign-stealing complaints (which is an issue that has followed him around for a long time, too).

Ventura is a red-ass who needs to mature. Just don't act like he started that whole Twitter exchange out of nowhere.

It was still batshit and a sign that the guy is as much of a loose cannon as he's ever been.

Lawrie's slide was late, dirty, and unnecessary. You won't convince anyone here of anything different. And you won't convince those of us who played baseball at advanced levels that slide and the placement of his foot was necessary. It wasn't.

I don't expect I'll convince any of you otherwise - I still don't buy it. Wong got clipped on a play just like that a couple of weeks ago; nothing came of it. That slide happens as bad or worse every week. Sandoval's was just as bad the day before (against the Orioles I believe) and nobody batted an eye. Escobar got hit in the top of the calf with a heel - it's not like he was Ty Cobb kicking him in the hip and yet that's how it's not characterized. As for unnecesssary - no dice; Lawrie had no way to know that the throw wasn't going across. You've seen the kind of body control middle infielders have - he could easily have slung that over from where he was and Lawrie wasn't going to let him do it. That's just baseball. Had Escobar simply walked away, nothing comes of it. Instead he lays on the ground like his leg is broken...then starts the next day. Drama queens indeed. That was a baseball play that was no more dirty or unnecessary than any number of baserunners that will all but slide in sideways to take out a potential DP.

Cain has been drilled a lot. He doesn't like that, and he - like most players - looks at the pitcher and might say something to him as he walks to first. What are you talking about regarding temper tantrums, though? Cain hasn't done anything that even closely resembles a temper tantrum (he's never even done anything close to what Donaldson did on Sunday).

Sorry but this gets back to my gripe with Lofton - every time that guy got hit he had something to say to the pitcher and Cain's the same in that regard. Quibble with the terminology if you will, but Cain's thin skinned. Again I'll reference Wong - that dude has been hit 13 times this season and he doesn't feel compelled to chatter at the P every time it happens. Jon Jay got hit 20 times last year and his response was the same every time; flips bat and goes. That's the normal reaction. Your position that most hitters are talking to the pitcher as they go up the line just isn't true. Most don't. Some do.

The whole thing with the White Sox never goes ANYWHERE if Jeff Samardzija doesn't bull rush his way through everybody trying get to Cain.

The benches might not even empty if Samardzija isn't yelling shit from the dugout at Christian Colon of all ****ing people the previous inning (after Colon lined out and was waiting for someone to bring him his glove).

And Samardzija probably isn't yelling shit from the dugout if Hosmer and Moustakas aren't yelling at him from the dugout after the Cain HBP in the season opener. The bad blood there started from opening day and as near as I can tell was just carryover from the Royals still really hating that guy from his Oakland days. You want to tell someone to let it go...that's probably where I'd start. And of course Volquez and Herrera are in the middle of that one as well.

Nobody's ever wholly to blame in these things, but again, at some point you have to acknowledge that the Royals are disproportionately featured in them. Royals fans can claim all they want that it's because teams don't like that they're not bad anymore but gimme a break - the plucky upstart thing works in your own locker room but it's not like Samardzija and Lawrie were thinking fondly back on the good ol' days when the Royals lost games and were livid at the Royals newfound success.