Idiots Write About Sports

Contretemps in yesterday’s Giants-A’s finale at Texas-Based Telecom Company Ballfield. Mark Mulder plunked Barry Bonds on the wrist to lead off the second inning (Bonds would be retired on the second of four Giant double plays on the afternoon). Then, in the fifth, Mulder hit Ray Durham to load the bases.

So you pretty much knew that Mulder was going to get buzzed the next time up. Sure enough, with two outs and nobody on in the sixth, Tyler Walker lobbed one into Mulder’s backside. Walker was immediately ejected, earning the wrath of Felipe Alou who couldn’t understand why his player got ejected when Mulder wasn’t so much as warned.

(Answer: Because Walker was clearly throwing at Mulder. And Mulder was clearly not trying to hit the two Giants. Bonds leans over the plate — when you do that, you’re prone to get smacked with the occasional pitch gone awry. As for Durham, I’m not sure there are too many pitchers in baseball who intentionally try and hit batters to load up the bases.)

You can’t necessarily fault the Giants for doing what they felt they had to do. And to Walker’s credit, he threw the ball low and behind Mulder, as opposed to high and tight. But I think you can question the timing.

After Oakland had jumped out to a 5-0 lead, the Giants had managed to claw their way back into the game, scoring one run in the fourth and adding two more in the fifth (thanks in some small part to Mulder hitting Durham). Even with two outs and the pitcher up, it doesn’t seem like smart baseball to be putting extra runners on base.

And sure enough, the A’s made San Francisco pay. Facing new pitcher David Aardsma (who had to rush his warm up, thanks to Walker’s hasty ejection), Mark Kotsay smacked a double to the deepest part of the yard that would have easily scored Mulder if the ball didn’t bounce over the wall. No matter — Eric Byrnes crushed an 0-2 curve to deep left for a three-run homer.

Your final score, incidentally — Oakland 9, San Francisco 6. Hey, the A’s won by three runs — imagine that.

Did the Giants inadvertently fire up the A’s by throwing at Mulder. Byrnes told Scott Ostler that it did: “That motivated Kotsay and (me). We said, ‘Let’s make sure we make ‘em pay for that.’”

But even if it didn’t — even if Kotsay or Byrnes had grounded out or popped up feebly — giving the top of the Oakland lineup even the smallest chance of driving in more runs doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do the inning immediately after you’ve just gotten yourself back in the game. There’s a time to stick up for your teammates and a time to win ballgames. The Giants did the former on Sunday, and it probably cost them a chance to pull off the latter.

Hack alert! Caple is explaining the save rules:

"If the reliever enters the game at the beginning of the final inning, the tying run need not be in the on-deck circle. It could be in the dugout. It could be in the clubhouse. It could be at the bar drinking beer with David Wells."

Hack alert! Again! It's a Fake Quote Column today, with letters in Coach K's e-mail. (This one may require a judges' ruling, but it's close enough for me.)

Patience, grasshopper. The Hack-O-Meter will complete its warm-up tosses soon.

Hey, I just post 'em when I see 'em. I happened to see these on consecutive days.