It is still to this day, at least to me, the dumbest form of “sending a message” to your opposition.
Let’s take you back to Wednesday night in Atlanta where the Braves hosted the Miami Marlins.
With star rookie Ronald Acuna Junior at the plate, Miami’s Jose Urena used his first pitch of the game to plunk Acuna in the left elbow.
The good news for Atlanta is a CT scan showed no damage to Acuna’s elbow and X-rays were negative.
The benches cleared, but no punches were thrown, and Urena was ejected.
After the game, he told reporters the pitch was an accident and he felt “pretty bad.”
It was a gutless act by Urena.
Acuna entered the game having homered in five straight outings, four of them against Miami, and three of them leading off.
Urena clearly wanted to “send a message” to his red-hot opponent, a sort of wake-up call that it was going to be a long night for him.
Urena could have tried to end Acuna’s home-run streak by getting him out, but chose the cowardly way out.
Whatever the commissioner’s office decides in terms of a suspension, it won’t nearly be harsh enough.
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