A RESPONSE FROM BOSTON NATION ON THE PAPI DRILLING

I appreciate the conversation with all fans as long as it's not hate filled and recently there has been a ton about Big Papi and him having "no respect" for David Price and his drilling of Papi the other night.  As Papi foolishly said, "it's war." (Read SPARE ME THE DRAMA, BIG PAPI) In reality, and as Price pointed out... comparing war to baseball is ridiculous. (Read PRICE RIPS PAPI & MY EYES WIDE OPEN.)

I received a comment from BostonBaby500. The comment is a very, very good one, and so, in the interest in engaging the Bleeding Yankee Blue audience... I wanted to print it in a post so you can all read it.  I know, I know... I'm beating the Papi drilling to death.  Well, I'm doing it for 2 reasons. 1. Hitting players is part of baseball, and if you need to get the fastball in on batters, sometimes batters get hit.  Deal with it... that's the game.  I also believe that this story is very interesting.  There are many opinions about it.  Which brings me back to a very good comment about the whole ordeal.  If you agree, or even disagree, I'd ask you to check it out:

"I'd like to speak respectfully from the other side of the Red-Blue border. I can appreciate your point of view; However, it seems to me that Mr. Price set up a straw man and proceeded to knock it down, and some people could not help but be drawn in to what I view as a bit of a charade.

The Miriam Webster dictionary gives two primary definitions of "war," within each of which there are some nuances; The first definition involves the concept we're familiar with, that of armed conflict; the second definition reads: :a : a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism; b : a struggle or competition between opposing forces or for a particular end.

When a president declared a war on poverty, no one jumped up and piously declared that the president showed little regard for our armed forces and all who give their lives; the same applies for any number of other declarations of war: against illiteracy, against hunger, against racism, against texting while driving.

Granted, all of these causes can be argued to have more weight than who wins or loses a baseball game, though it should not be overlooked that that very game represents the livelihood of grown men. Nevertheless, to jump on Papi's use of that particular word seemed to me an attempt - and a successful one at that - by Mr. Price to deflect criticism from himself and the fact that it was clearly no accident that he threw a fastball at Papi's back.

Perhaps you feel that Mr. Ortiz was being overly dramatic, and that's a point of view that has some plausibility. But bear in mind that his comments were made after the game, after Mr. Price was not ejected for throwing at a batter - remember, prior to that game, Price had hit only two batters all season long, and had walked only eight total, as I recall - and Papi's comments were made, furthermore, after Mr. Price hit a second batter (thereby hitting as many batters in three innings as he had in the previous 84 1/3), prior to which both sides had been warned, and he still was not ejected.

Those comments were made, furthermore, after Joe Maddon had made some outrageously disingenuous statements about the ball slipping out of his hand, and that the umpires had called a good game. Joe knows better, and Papi knows he does.

And finally, in case anyone wanted to make the argument that the umpires were just going to let the boys play out their string, four members of the Red Sox were ejected. And, of course, no Rays were. In between all this, I have not forgotten that Red Sox pitcher Brandon Workman hit one of the other team's batters, but I am not convinced, looking at his tendency to be wild, that it was intentional. Nevertheless, I don't disagree with his being ejected; it's his job to make sure the ball doesn't slip out of his hand, accidentally or not. And, just for good measure, a third Red Sox batter was hit in the 10th inning, And, as I recall, that pitcher was not ejected from the game.

Given that Mr. Ortiz claimed to have had a conversation at the end of last season with Mr. Price - and the latter has not denied this - during which things were patched up, his reaction, or over reaction, if you prefer, becomes a bit more understandable.

  

Last of all, Mr. Price was quoted as saying that he had gained the respect of more people than those who'd lost respect for him. Gained their respect for what? The only noteworthy thing he did that would have garnered that respect was hitting Mr. Ortiz, and on the very first pitch; When asked about his comment the following day, and what he thought he'd done to gain their respect, he, with quiet and ostentatiously even-keeled piety, went back after Papi, with an air of, "Oh, I'm so tired of childish games, but that's how some guys are." somehow lost in that statement with its slight-of-hand - remember, he completely ignored the reporter's question - was the fact that it was he who clearly carried a grudge that supposedly was cleared up from last October.

I recognize that every story has two sides,, and maybe there's a lot here that's I've interpreted incorrectly; and maybe there are those who would see Papi as every bit as arrogant in his way as Mr. Price. These are things that perhaps can never be known with certainty. But I hope that what I've written presents enough that's plausible as to inject a little more balance to all our points of view.

Nice blog, by the way."

Sure, we get lost in the weeds in BostonBaby500's comment at times, but it's a good comment just the same.

I won't get a very high readership from this post. I don't care. It's important that I showed this to you all. I appreciate the comment BostonBaby500.

Enjoy your day ladies and gentlemen.

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