[nolemmings]

Sorry Todd. The catcher was setting up on the outside part of the plate as Scherzer was delivering the ball. He missed his spot by the entire plate and at least six inches inside if not more. It was a terrible pitch. Scherzer was understandably amped up. The pitch was too far inside and never broke. Tabata should never have been in that position. Scherzer understands that.

If he drills Tabata, I would like to see two things happen.

1. It sends Tabata to the DL then back to the minors where he belongs.
2. Gerritt Cole fires one at 100 MPH at ass of the National of his choosing.

Wherever his target was, that pitch was only 6 or so inches off the plate, not a foot as someone said. Watch the replay. Again, it was a breaking pitch that had little or no break, but the point is barely relevant. The rule is what it is. He could and I believe should have had it enforced.

And if Pittsburgh wants to get in a beanball war then I hope they go for it. Dbacks fans lost Goldschmidt for a 1/3 of last year as a result of Pirates pitching--pitching that led the league in batters hit by a wide margin. Then we had to listen to whining about retaliation for hitting McCutcheon, who later was determined to have been hurt on a fielding play and not the HBP. What little national attention and goodwill that Pirate team is drawing will go out the window if they want to make much of a deal out of this or anything else. So yes, get Cole all warmed up--I'm sure you'll get Matt Williams' attention--and see how that ends for the Bucs.