Where are all those people now who said Pedro wouldn’t have the ‘guts’ to plunk batters if he played in the National League?
Back in the day on the Red Sox Fan Forum, one of the biggest causes for arguments among Red Sox fans and pretty much every other fan base (mostly Yankees fans, though) was whenever Pedro hit a batter. Pedro pitches inside, and in doing so he occasionally (ha, "occasionally", I crack me up) hits someone. Of course, a lot of the time he hits someone, in my opinion, with a purpose. I never loved that part of his game…but it didn’t bother me the way it did others because I still believe the majority of those ‘hits’ were to move the batter off his plate. Part of the game.
So the big comeback would always be "if he played in the National League he wouldn’t pull that" (most people forgetting that he, indeed, DID play for the National League up until he became a Red Sox player. He also, indeed, hit many a batter during that time as well).
People, I give you Jose Guillen. (And I admit, I read this story after coming home from a night out with friends and when I read the headline about Pedro hitting Guillen, for a split second I thought it was Ozzie Guillen and it really didn’t upset me too much!)
It was the third time in two nights Guillen was hit by a pitch. Martinez plunked him in the side in the third inning, and the right fielder walked slowly to first base.
So he was probably a little grumpy to begin with.
Guillen has often been irritated by getting hit. In 2004 with Anaheim, he complained that Angels pitchers weren’t doing enough to protect him by brushing back opposing batters. He was hit by pitches 15 times that season and then 19 times last year — tied for most in the NL.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that the dude crowds the plate. Either that, or people just hate him.
Mets ended up winning, by the way. Pedro looked pretty good, apparently.
Guillen shouldn’t complain. It could be worse. He could have been home plate umpire Ted Barrett last night.
Barrett left before the seventh after getting hit in the throat by a foul ball.
Wonder if he charged the batter’s box before he left?
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