Rough afternoons go hand-in-hand with being a Major League Baseball player.
And we get it. When even the best hitters in the game fail seven times out of 10, there’s room for a whole lotta frustration as players watch batting averages fall, ERAs rise and potentially, their careers flash in front of their eyes.
But temper tantrums come at a price. And, as two incidents over the past few days show, the price can often be higher than the temporarily freaking-out player thinks.
Seattle Mariners first baseman Logan Morrison threw a nutty Sunday after a fifth inning pop-out against the Texas Rangers had the scuffling player staring at an 0-for-3 day so far. According to Crave sports site NESN, Morrison decided it was his bat’s fault, beating the crap out of that bastard against the dugout wall until it shattered into an explosion of wood shards.
Unfortunately, one of those shards found a home above Morrison’s left eye, leaving a huge gash that required five stitches and got him pulled out of the game.
“Obviously, I acted like a 3-year-old,” a sufficiently mortified Morrison told The Seattle Times after the game. “I apologized to my teammates. I’m about to go apologize to (manager Lloyd McClendon). I can’t do that. I didn’t want to come out of the game. They saw me gushing blood from my eyebrow and they took me out. I’m embarrassed. No matter how bad I’m playing, I can’t do that.”
While Morrison was making amends Sunday evening, the story of his meltdown obviously didn’t filter its way down to Oakland in time for Monday’s A’s-Rangers matchup.
This time, the Rangers were severely pissing off A’s starter Drew Pomeranz, who’s had mostly good luck this season while assembling a 1.90 ERA in 17 appearances for the Athletics. Not so Monday night, however, as Texas hung eight runs on Pomeranz in a ghastly 3 2/3-inning stint.
A frustrated Pomeranz took a detour on his way to the showers, knocking the ever-loving shit out of a wooden chair in the A’s locker room. But the chair got its revenge, leaving the left-hander with a fractured non-pitching hand, forcing the team to put Pomeranz on the disabled list.
“I just let my emotions take over me, and I did something stupid,” Pomeranz told reporters later. “It sucks. Obviously, I didn’t mean for it to happen. It sucks because I want to play…Obviously, I’m not helping the team out when I do something stupid like that.”
Lesson 1: Don’t play the Texas Rangers. They get in your head.
Lesson 2: When you get angry, close your eyes, count to 10, find your happy place and do whatever is necessary to contain that Chernobyl-esque meltdown from leaving you physically scarred.
Probably not worth it…
