baseball

WBC brawl raises concerns in Japan

11 Comments
By JIM ARMSTRONG

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11 Comments
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Nothing wrong with a good scrap at the end of the game. The Mexican third baseman called for the pitcher to throw at the next Canuck batter. He did, and this was the result. Looked to me like the Mexicans took the worst of it anyway. Chances are most of the Canadian players played hockey as youths, and a nice fight was a nostalgic event. I saw lots of Mexicans flying about getting pummeled.

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“The Canadians had every right to bunt in that situation and that is not unusual in Japan,” Murakami said.

exactly,nothing unusual in Japan, Japan is World Bunt Classic (WBC) Champion :)

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Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese to play in Major League Baseball, said the incident was a result of the Mexicans not understanding the rules.

Wrong. The Mexicans understood the rules just fine. But there is a greater, un-written rule, among major-leaguers that you play the game like men, not little boys.

“The Canadians had every right to bunt in that situation and that is not unusual in Japan,” Murakami said.

With resect to Murakami, the big league stadiums would be empty every night if the game was played like it is in Japan. But, then again, maybe that is why Japanese attendance and TV ratings are dropping.

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Wrong. The Mexicans understood the rules just fine. But there is a greater, un-written rule, among major-leaguers that you play the game like men, not little boys.

Actually, even the Mexican manager admitted during the press conference that he may have not explained the rules enough, Do try to keep up.

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aren't these players professionals? if they are they should know the rules....in a league you may choose not to run up the score cause you will face these guys again and the shoe may be on the other foot but in a tourney where run differential makes a difference all bets are off....

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The Mexicans considered it a violation of baseball’s unwritten rule that you don’t run up the score late in a game by bunting to get on base.

If it's unwritten then it's not a rule. It might be considered an unwritten agreement between leagues/teams but it is not a rule. The Canadians had every right to bunt given that run differential was to be used as the first tie-breaker. And the Mexico third base guy told the pitcher to hit the next batter in. On top of that, in the fight the Mexicans caused, they got their butt kicked too.

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Viva Canada!

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Yes! Baseball, hockey and boxing all in one place. What's not to like?

If it is within the rules, I don't see why people get upset, but it's a good time to flex those old hockey moves...

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But there is a greater, un-written rule, among major-leaguers that you play the game like men, not little boys.

Unwritten rules are NEVER "greater" than the written rules. Men play the game by the rules just like the "boys" do. Incidentally, it's in the WRITTEN RULES for the "boys" that the game ends when the score differential reaches a certain point. There must be some reason why that's NOT the case for the men, right? Perhaps the MEN are expected to use all nine innings to try and win rather than throw a hissy fit and start beaning opposing players?

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I'm not really sure why Japan is concerned over a fight occurring over a bunt -- the fight occurred because the Mexican team were extremely poor sports and intentionally threw a pitch, then threw the first punch, at a Canadian player. The dugouts didn't empty when the Canadian team bunted. It was also due to tensions in the game as it was an all-stakes game in an international tournament.

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Fadamor: "There must be some reason why that's NOT the case for the men, right? Perhaps the MEN are expected to use all nine innings to try and win rather than throw a hissy fit and start beaning opposing players?"

I'm sure it has a LOT to do with the fact that adult teams HIRE players based on skills, while kids' teams just take the local crop who pay the small fee (or enter free) to play. Hence you get extremely skewed teams in the latter, with (hopefully) less skewed teams in the former. In the WBC, you have countries that dominate in the sport and those that are new, and often weak, at it, resulting in a similar sort of skewing in terms of skills. The mercy rule is there for a reason -- the silly elimination rules in this tournament are not.

And as for 'unwritten rules not being rules' and 'great', etc., you guys have to stop being so literal! Don't tell me you thought WWI, "The Great War" is called 'great' because you think it was fantastic!

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