It seems as though Fernando Rodney forgot one of the fundamental rules of baseball on Sunday night; "It ain’t over till it’s over."
The Seattle Mariners reliever was closing in on his 200th save when he entered the game with a 5-4 lead in the eighth against the Angels. Rodney pitched out of the inning and did his signature bow-and-arrow performance—only this time he directed his theatrics at the Angel dugout instead of center field.
Rodney—who had a lackluster stint with the Angels from 2010-11—was apparently upset that the fans had booed him when he entered the game and took his chance to gloat after he got out of the inning stating, “I did that for the fans, because when I came in, they booed me. It's part of the game.’’
But while Rodney was doing his best Katniss Everdeen impression, there was more baseball to be played and the Halos took notice of their former teammates diss and used it as motivation for a little ninth inning revenge.
Mike Trout kicked things off with a lead off walk and scored from first on a double from Albert Pujols. The duo immediately began flinging their own arrows at Rodney and they went on to win after a walk-off base hit from Grant Green (you can watch the gratifying moment below):
Now Rodney is a quality pitcher and All-Star and you can’t blame a player for getting excited when they perform well in a clutch situation (though I can blame him for not wearing his hat properly). But Rodney’s antics weren’t just about excitement—it was cockiness and the Angels used his brash stunt as motivation.
His mistake provides a great lesson—be confident, not cocky. And remember how many outs you have to go before you begin celebrating.
--Alexis Garcia, BYB's "Eye on MLB" Columnist
Twitter: @heylexyg
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