Remember last season, when Prince Fielder hit a walkoff home run in early September against the Giants? San Francisco sure does. The homer itself wasn’t very noteworthy, but the celebration certainly was. Pundits from across the league blasted the Brewers, I thought it was pretty damn funny, and the Giants were certainly sour about it.
We’re all expecting the Giants to do something about the situation, since Bruce Bochy is the type of old-school dolt who would be in favor of retribution, no matter how delayed it is. But would they try to get back at Prince on Thursday, in the Brewers’ first Spring Training game? Andrew Baggarly seems to think so (h/t Anthony Witrado).
Normally, I have no problem if the other team wants to give the Brewers a free base runner by intentionally hitting them. But this is Spring Training. Fielder’s only likely to get one at-bat or so in Thursday’s game, and if anyone gets on base, it’ll probably be in the first inning. If you’re the Giants, do you really want to start your season that way? Save the beanball wars for the regular season, when the games actually matter.
The only reason I think they might not wait until then? The two teams don’t face each other until July 5th. It’s a pretty stupid (and petty) subplot to an otherwise meaningless game, but I’ll agree with Baggarly that something seems likely. Let’s just hope no one gets hurt.
…and I don’t mean Prince. The poor sap who hits him might not make it out of Arizona.
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