The Diamondbacks Are Still Jerks

Former GM Kevin Towers and Kirk “Grit Lord” Gibson aren’t around to urge players to throw baseballs at people in meaningless acts of revenge, but that doesn’t mean the Diamondbacks have totally done away with the Hard Baseball Man ethos. See last night’s game against the Marlins.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, a 97-mph fastball got away from Marlins starter Jose Fernandez and nailed David Peralta right in the head. Nothing had happened in the previous five-and-a-half innings that would suggest Fernandez threw at Peralta on purpose, and the pitcher’s reaction to the play made it abundantly clear that he did not mean to send a pitch at Peralta’s head.

And yet, that didn’t stop Arizona’s dugout from chirping at Fernandez, and it didn’t stop D-Backs pitcher Dominic Leone from exacting “retribution” in the form of a fastball buried into Chrstian Yelich’s butt cheek during the top of the seventh. The funny thing is that the Diamondbacks didn’t even have anyone warming up in the bullpen to replace Leone after he was immediately ejected. The other funny part is that they lost the game 5-3.