Josh Beckett of Boston Red Sox suspended six games for pitch at Bobby Abreu's head

[filihok]

Or he was throwing over his head on purpose?

What's the harm in that?

There's all this talk about treating pitchers like they are made of glass 'these days', what about batters?

They wear suits of armor up to the plate.

Any pitch moderately high and tight and people are screaming that the pitcher needs to be ejected, suspended, and paddled with a ruler

[Red Sox Fan 734]

Or he was throwing over his head on purpose?

So then what's the matter with that? It's not like throwing over his head is going to harm Abreu in any way

edit: just saw filihok said basically the say thing, oops

[200tang]

I don't remember saying there was a problem.

[dps]

Or pencil somebody else in as the starter, let him go an inning or two, then bring in the "suspended" guy.

I seem to recall back when Randy Johnson was still with the Mariners, he was given a suspension, and the manager (Pinella?) tried to get cute and give The Big Unit a start at 1st, and pull him after 1/3 of an inning, and then start his suspension. But I can't remember the details, and it might not have even been Johnson.

[Matty86]

complete ******** suspension.. abreau called for timeout while he was already in his motion. The ball sailed out of his hand because it was too late to just stop. Have you ever seen a guy stop his motion onces its started like that? He would destroy his arm. If he wanted to hit him he would have. If anything the suspension might be for walking towards the plate and as a result clearing the dugouts, but for the throw though.

[actionjackson]

complete ******** suspension.. abreau called for timeout while he was already in his motion. The ball sailed out of his hand because it was too late to just stop. Have you ever seen a guy stop his motion onces its started like that? He would destroy his arm. If he wanted to hit him he would have. If anything the suspension might be for walking towards the plate and as a result clearing the dugouts, but for the throw though.

Sorry, but this just doesn't wash for me. Yes, Beckett has to continue with his motion, release the ball and follow through in order to avoid injury, absolutely. It's interesting that the ball wound up so close to Abreu's head that he had to get his head out of the way though. Why not just follow through and groove a dart down the middle? Was he pissed with Abreu for calling time so late? (which he never should've been granted by the way...but that's a whole other matter...I thought there was a new rule for this...) Sure seemed like that might have been the case by the way he stormed off the mound angry at Abreu for having the gall to be upset at having a 95+ mph heater zinged at his melon, while he was in a relaxed state having called time. Maybe if Beckett didn't have such a reputation for hitting guys he wouldn't be facing this suspension. Then again, if he didn't have said reputation, that pitch most likely wouldn't have been anywhere near Abreu's head. Just man-up Beckett and take responsibility for your actions on the mound for once. D!ck.

[Alloutwar]

This will probably be viewed as slanted, since I'm a sox fan - and hey, I didn't even see it. But the whole setup - calling time-out, mid delivery - I don't think Beckett had time to get angry and purposefully throw at the head, in the 0.23 seconds between turning and firing.

I think he was angry immediately after, which is why he took a few steps in.

If you get interrupted with a time-out call mid delivery 10 times, and let go of the ball all 10 times, maybe 1 or 2 of those would end up near the head. It's unfortunate, but I feel secure that it was not intentional.

[actionjackson]

Here's the link I've been looking for of this brouhaha. Watch how long Beckett holds the ball - it's at least 15 seconds and who knows how long before this clip started. At a certain point you've got to pitch the ball or the hitter has every right to ask for time. That pitch is damn close to Abreu's head and then there's the aftermath during which Beckett, not Abreu, is the aggressor. Bobby's just like WTF dude? What was that? Meanwhile, Beckett charges off the mound like an amped-up prize fighter when he's the one who caused this sh*t in the first place. If it was completely unintentional, a simple tap of the chest and mouthing the words "My bad" might have done a lot to defuse the tension of the situation, but that wasn't good enough for Josh the Punk.The video also shows that no Angel touched the field until Beckett came towards Abreu screaming and gesturing at him.

The whole thing slightly reminds me of the Clemens/Piazza "Bat-throwing/I thought it was the ball" incident in the 2000 World Series. It's obviously not quite that ridiculous. Clemens had more time to think about what he was going to do, but both were reactions. Why is it that Beckett feels the need to be an ass time and time again and other pitchers like our own Roy Halladay are able to be just as intimidating, effective and dominant without resorting to such BS tactics. I hope he ends up back in the National League and somebody gives him a taste of his own medicine. Petulant Brat.

Edit: Note Varitek setting up low and away.

[HoustonGM]

It looks pretty unintentional to me.

Like Alloutwar said, there was a split second of time in which Beckett would have had to realize that time was being called, decide to throw at his head, and switch his aim and pinpoint it there. Beckett's a great pitcher, but, that seems like a lot.

[filihok]

I recall another thread about this from a year or so ago.

I don't think umpires need to be in the business of reading minds.

[oriole^]

Here's the link I've been looking for of this brouhaha. Watch how long Beckett holds the ball - it's at least 15 seconds and who knows how long before this clip started. At a certain point you've got to pitch the ball or the hitter has every right to ask for time. That pitch is damn close to Abreu's head and then there's the aftermath during which Beckett, not Abreu, is the aggressor. Bobby's just like WTF dude? What was that? Meanwhile, Beckett charges off the mound like an amped-up prize fighter when he's the one who caused this sh*t in the first place. If it was completely unintentional, a simple tap of the chest and mouthing the words "My bad" might have done a lot to defuse the tension of the situation, but that wasn't good enough for Josh the Punk.The video also shows that no Angel touched the field until Beckett came towards Abreu screaming and gesturing at him.

The whole thing slightly reminds me of the Clemens/Piazza "Bat-throwing/I thought it was the ball" incident in the 2000 World Series. It's obviously not quite that ridiculous. Clemens had more time to think about what he was going to do, but both were reactions. Why is it that Beckett feels the need to be an ass time and time again and other pitchers like our own Roy Halladay are able to be just as intimidating, effective and dominant without resorting to such BS tactics. I hope he ends up back in the National League and somebody gives him a taste of his own medicine. Petulant Brat.

Edit: Note Varitek setting up low and away.

Thank you. This should settle it once and for all, but just in case it doesn't: Beckett throws unintentionally. Abreu sticks his arms out and says, "What was that?" Beckett says, "My bad," and gets back on the hill. Oh, wait, didn't happen that way, did it?

In fact, it's Beckett - the guy with a history of this sort of nonsense - who steps off, approaches the plate like he's in the WWE, and in the aftermath stays in the game while four Angels get tossed. I can't ever recall any game in any sport where four members of a team get thrown out of a game without a single member of the other team facing any punishment at all.

Honestly. They win two Series and they think they get the Yankee calls.

EDIT: Jeez, I just rushed off to watch the video and came back to write...the same thing that Jackson did. Ah, well, my bad... (see? Wasn't so hard...)

[Alloutwar]

I can't find the video anywhere - MLB has claimed ownership and made everyone remove it. Google's got nothin.

I'm not aware of a 'history' of Beckett throwing at people - I tried to look that up, but all I found was this Abreu story. I think I can recall Beckett beaning a Rays player, maybe after our players had been beaned (and a pitcher tossed for it). So if you mean, he's the sort of guy who will take it upon himself to toss at the other guys as a warning -that may be fair. Trying to push that into this bastardizing crap above isn't.

I think people are sort of rushing to throw this into a Yankee-Red Sox, big-club-dirt-bag sort of thing, for some reason. Again, I get the anti-big club animosity; I hate the Yankees, for crying out loud. I wish the clubs were all equal - I'd like to see more Padres coverage, myself.

But using this one event to try to paint the whole team as horrible or petulant or what have you - go blow your smoke somewhere else. That's just plain BS, and we don't need more of that here.