Melky Cabrera and Beanball

Atlanta Braves fans are pretty pissed at ex-brave and current Giant (I am not talking about his weight) Melky Cabrera. If you didn’t get a chance to watch the game last night then you missed out on all the drama and you probably want to know what happened.

It all started in the top of the sixth inning when Cabrera hit an absolutely massive shot to left field* and then proceeded to watch the ball soar over the fence.

* note – sarcasm

Your probably wondering, “why didn’t Melky take off out of the box because that came really close to hitting the fence?” The answer is that something about Turner Field makes Melky extremely lazy. Your probably also wondering “what’s the big deal? Juan Francisco does that all the time.” Well it didn’t stop there.

Melky was just full of antics and fun last night at Turner Field:

• admiring his ball fly just over the fence
• pointing at the Atlanta fans after reaching the plate
• gesturing with his hands near his groin after Blanco’s homerun
• taunting Jason Heyward after he caught a fly ball while Heyward was on second
• taunting Braves fans in left field when he pretended to throw baseballs at them

At this point there are tons of people speculating that Melky should be beaned today for all of the childishness and disrespect he showed last night. There are some people who think beaning a batter is a horrendous thing to do and should not be tolerated.

I tend to be of the former.

The question shouldn’t be “should we hit him?” the question should be “how much crap does a player have to do before he gets hit?”. I’m guessing Melky will be hit today, especially after seeing Chipper’s comments after the game and seeing that Tim Hudson is on the mound today.

"That’s Melky and that’s why he’s not here anymore. He got a little happy when I think Blanco hit the home run. That won’t be forgotten.”"

I’m not sure what Melky’s issue with the Braves and their fans is. Does he expect a team to want him to play for them when he hits .255/.317/.354 while coming to camp overweight and out of shape (2010)?

I fully expect Melky to be hit today and I don’t have a problem with it one bit. I have always been an old school baseball guy. I like high socks, and bent bills, and hustle on the field. Hitting people who disrespect your team and especially your fans is part of that.

I’m not saying I want Huddy going for a headshot but I don’t think anything is wrong with him bruising a leg, an arm, or some other part of the body that won’t kill the dude. With the velocity of our starters there’s little chance of that regardless of where he’s hit anyways.

This is baseball and when you play baseball you can get hit. When you step in the batter’s box you should know that it’s completely possible for you to get drilled, and you should have the common sense to realize that it just might hurt a little bit.

It’s not like Melky is going to be hit on purpose because he hit a homerun and admired it. Sure that might have pissed some people off but that doesn’t really call for a beanball. All that other stuff on the list up there though? Yeah that just might call for some good old fashioned retaliation, and I’m perfectly fine with that.