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And you thought the intentional walk had gone the way of Blockbuster, the iPod and those titanium-infused Phiten necklaces that stabilized the body’s energy flow.
You were wrong! Turns out, the intentional walk is still part of the game — and, courtesy of Joe Maddon and now Tony La Russa, it gifted us with two of the most comical and controversial moments of this season. (Well, outside of the epic Tommy Pham-Joc Pederson fantasy football dispute, which of course reigns as the kookiest non-baseball baseball thing since Yankees pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson switched wives in the 1970s.)
On Thursday, White Sox manager La Russa intentionally walked Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner with a runner on second base — and a count of one ball and two strikes — in order to have relief pitcher Bennett Sousa instead face Max Muncy, who promptly hit a three-run home run to give the Dodgers a 10-5 lead in a game they would eventually win 11-9. The best part of the whole episode was not that the two-strike intentional walk blew up in La Russa’s face; it was the microphone that caught one fan yelling “He’s got two strikes, Tony!” and “Tony, what are you doing?” before Muncy homered.
Or maybe the best part was the confused look on Freddie Freeman’s face as he stood on second base and said to White Sox second baseman Danny Mendick, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before,” to which Mendick kind of turned away from Freeman and smiled, most likely in equal disbelief. Or maybe the best part was Muncy staring into the White Sox dugout as he rounded third base. Or maybe the best part was Muncy uttering language that can’t be repeated here as he crossed home plate. Or maybe the best part was Muncy, in his postgame interview on the field, where one must refrain from using certain four-letter words, simply saying, “I wanted to make them pay, let’s just leave it at that.” Or maybe the best moment was La Russa, after the game, asking, incredulously, “Is there some question…
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Source : espn
