Two weeks ago we had John Steigerwald, whether he wants to admit it or not, blaming a beating victim for his own beating because he wore a Giants jersey. This week, Richie Whitt takes on Colby Lewis and chides him for missing a start. Was he in jail? Hungover? Perhaps he didn't make it to the park on time and was pulled from the start as a punitive measure? No, it's worse than that. He went to go see his wife, try to hold back your anger Rangers fans at his lack of dedication to the team, who was giving birth to their second child. This happened during the 162 game regular season nonetheless! He didn't see the birth of his and his wife's first child, oh no, this is the second child they have had. So it's not like he HAD to be there or anything in the eyes of Richie Whitt. I'll let Whitt explain this outrageous event himself.
So Alexi Ogando is human.
A very ugly human, but a human nonetheless. I guess we don't have to worry about Ogando getting too many women pregnant and having to miss a start for the birth of his child because he's ugly. Ugly people shouldn't have kids.
The Rangers' bullpen is shaky. Julio Borbon's center-to-home throws look like Mat McBriar's punts. And Nos. 1-2 hitters are cooler than a New York night.
Admit it, right now Texas' 10-5 feels more like 5-10.
Oh yeah, it's time to panic...or at least take your frustration out on a starting pitcher who doesn't pitch out of the bullpen, can't help Borbon through the ball better and can't hit better than the Rangers offense does. These three things that have nothing to do with Colby Lewis, are all the fault of Colby Lewis.
After Ogando gave up three homers last night, Arthur Rhodes surrendered the game-losing 8th-inning hit to Eric Chavez
Both pitchers clearly were unfocused and angry Colby Lewis wasn't in the dugout eating sunflower seeds and watching them pitch.
Don't look now, but since Josh Hamilton's dumb dash for home Tuesday in Detroit, the Rangers are 1-4 and tied with the Angels atop the AL West. They start a three-game series with the Angels tonight in Arlington.
Most. Important. Series. Ever. If the Rangers had lost all of these games, they would have only had 144 games to make up the three game deficit in the standings.
In Game 2, Colby Lewis is scheduled to start after missing his last regular turn in the rotation because -- I'm not making this up --
He's not making this outrageous event up. What he is about to say REALLY HAPPENED.
his wife, Jenny, was giving birth in California.
A woman is birthing a child? Say it isn't so? Has this ever happened before in the history of the world? What are the odds this happens during a 6 month span during the season when Colby Lewis has to pitch for the Rangers? The odds are probably, what, two-million-to-one?
Besides, who the fuck marries someone named Jenny? Who does Colby Lewis think he is? Forrest Gump? You are a bum Colby Lewis!
To the couple's second child.
Lewis saw his first child born, does he really need to see his second child born? Someone DVR that shit and let Lewis do his job so he can go out and pitch for the Rangers. With Lewis pitching the Rangers offense will immediately pick back up, Josh Hamilton's arm will miraculously heal and the Rangers will never lose another game.
Don't have kids of my own but I raised a step-son for eight years.
I hate to get personal, I really do, because that's out of bounds when it comes to criticizing someone's writing...but Richie Whitt brought his own family up, so here we go...
Raising a step-son is a difficult thing to do for a variety of reasons. It's admirable to raise a step-son and become an important person in that child's life. As far as being a parent to his step-son, I am sure Richie Whitt did a great job. When it comes to criticizing Colby Lewis for going to see his child be born, it is ridiculous to try and claim you understand what kind of decision he had to make because you raised a step-son for eight years. This step-son isn't your son, you may love him like he is your own son, but he isn't so saying you know what it is like for Colby Lewis to see his child born because you have a step-son is just not the same thing.
It is not ridiculous because Whitt doesn't know about loving a child as his own or ridiculous because it makes you more of a parent to raise a child that is actually your own flesh and blood. It is ridiculous because Richie Whitt dares to criticize Colby Lewis for wanting to experience his child's birth and then tries to relate his own experience as a step-parent as proof he has a valid point. It doesn't prove anything. It only goes to prove Richie Whitt doesn't understand the concept of being there to see your child born. If he did, he wouldn't criticize Colby Lewis.
I know all about sacrifice and love and how great children are.
But you clearly don't. If you don't understand the sacrifice (can we even call it that?) of being there when your wife is in labor with your child, then you don't understand about the sacrifice and love required. Again, being a step-parent is wonderful and admirable, but to criticize a person on wanting to be there for his child's birth, while claiming you know his position because you raised a step-child, shows you don't get it.
But a pitcher missing one of maybe 30 starts?
Right. It was one of 30 starts. Lewis only missed one start for the birth of his child.
And it's all kosher because of Major League Baseball's new paternity leave rule?
Which is a rule that may be annoying to some who would like for their favorite pitchers to never miss a start, but is a rule that makes sense as long as you have human feelings and emotions. Rangers fans may be irritated about this, but outside the fan-frenzy idea of a player missing a start this paternity leave rule makes sense.
Follow me this way to some confusion.
No need to follow you. I am already there waiting on you. I'm confused as to how you can be critical of a person who wants to see his child born.
Imagine if Jason Witten missed a game to attend the birth of a child.
If Jason Witten missed a game to attend the birth of his child, I am sure crazy madness would ensue. The world would never be the same. If Jason Witten missed a game to attend the birth of his child, I am sure Dallas would explode with anger.
Not to mention, Witten would miss one of sixteen games (eighteen games soon?), while Colby Lewis will miss one of his thirty starts. Witten missing one game of sixteen has a greater effect on the Cowboys overall record than Lewis missing one game out of 162 games.
It's just, I dunno, weird. Wrong even.
Absolutely it is not wrong. What's wrong is criticizing a player for taking the time to see his child come into the world. It is the regular season.
Departures? Totally get it because at a funeral you're saying goodbye to someone for the last time.
But an arrival is merely saying hello to someone you'll see the rest of your life.
Using this logic, there would be no need to go to a funeral because you have seen that person your entire life. The dead person doesn't know you are there, so what does it matter if you are there or not. It's not like there will be pictures of the funeral that show you weren't there.
This is as opposed to child birth when Lewis' child becomes 10 years old and wants to see pictures of his birth and he notices his father wasn't in any of the pictures. It would be fine for Colby Lewis to just tell his son he wasn't there "because I knew I would see you the entire rest of my life. I had a game to pitch that day." It also sounds like something that may not make sense to a ten year old.
Besides, nothing has ever gone wrong during childbirth, so there is a 100% guarantee you'll see both your wife and your child for the rest of your life. No woman has ever had complications from child birth and the mother or child died as a result. Not to mention, I am sure Lewis' wife has no qualms with giving birth with her husband not there. It's probably not a stressful time for her at all.
Dave Bush filled in for Lewis last week in Detroit and threw three scoreless innings of a game that Mark Lowe and the bullpen eventually coughed up. But that's not the point.
"The Rangers bullpen blew the game for the Rangers, so even if Lewis had pitched the Rangers would have lost. Don't let the reality of this prevent you from believing I have a point though. I would have a point if the Rangers bullpen didn't blow the lead."
Baseball players are paid millions to play baseball.
At what point does a person make enough money to miss the birth of a child? I wonder if Richie Whitt has a chart that helps explain this to me.
If that means "scheduling" births so they occur in the off-season, then so be it.
Perhaps this wasn't a "scheduled" birth. Maybe it was an accident. Perhaps rather than have an abortion so the child isn't born during baseball season, Lewis' wife decided she was going to go ahead and have the child, even though it coincided very inconveniently with the baseball season.
Perhaps Lewis was hoping the 24-72 hours he was given for paternity leave wouldn't fall on a day he had to pitch. That's possible as well. It's not like Lewis starts every game for the Rangers. He figured he could see his child born and not miss a start.
Perhaps the Lewis family had been trying to have a second child for a few years now and finally his wife got pregnant. There are so many possible scenarios. They all end with the idea it wasn't "wrong" for Colby Lewis to value seeing his child being born over missing one of his 30 starts in a season.
Of the 365 days in a year, starting pitchers "work" maybe 40 of them, counting spring training and playoffs.
Right, and Colby Lewis missed a game the bullpen ended up blowing anyway. Maybe Mark Lowe doesn't blow the game if the starting pitcher for the Rangers goes more than 3 innings, that's possible, but the fact remains the Rangers bullpen blew the game.
If it was a first child, maybe. But a second child causing a player to miss a game?
Is this a parody? It has to be. There's no way Richie Whitt really has a "been there, done that" attitude about a family having a second child. Do we even have to take pictures for a third child? How about a family that has a fourth child? Is it even worth feeding this child? Does this child need a crib? The cat's bed would work perfectly fine as a bed for a newborn.
Ludicrous.
No, criticizing Colby Lewis for missing a start to see his child being born is ludicrous. This is shameful.
I know the fan in me says a pitcher for my favorite team shouldn't miss a start, but the human in me says it is fine to see your child being born. Rob Neyer put a poll up and completely changed the situation around in order to give us a new "perspective" on this issue. Yeah, if it was the World Series or the Super Bowl it may be a different story. It wasn't, so it doesn't matter. It was a regular season start Colby Lewis missed and Richie Whitt incorrectly criticized him for missing the game.
When I first started reading this post, I thought, "well maybe Ben is just being a little harsh and twisting the writers' words a bit." And then I read it, and I was shocked. No twisting. Just a lack of humanity. There's pretty much nothing else to say besides what you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteDylan, I am shocked, angered and saddened you think I would twist his words. I am always just a little bit harsh, but that's what I do best. Some people deserve harshness.
ReplyDeleteI could potentially understand his point of view if it came to the postseason. That may be a bigger deal, but not in the regular season.
What's interesting is he referred to Shane Battier as a guy who missed his child's birth because of a game, but Battier did not know his child was being born. So it wasn't a conscious decision to miss it for a playoff game. If Battier had known his wife would go into labor early I can't help but wonder if he would have played or not. Either way, Battier still didn't miss his child's birth.
Whitt lacks humanity. It's the regular season and one game. As a fan of a team, I get his point of view. He's not supposed to be a fan though.
He mentions being a step father for 8 years, and people keep giving him credit for that. Why? We don't know if he was any good as a step father or not. Based on this article I'd wager he was a lousy step father. He talks about sacrifice, well, exactly what kind of sacrifice is he talking about? He missed watching a Cowboys game to attend his kids graduation? He missed a day of work to attend a jv basketball game? He gave the kid the last slice of pizza once? Dudes a jackass.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but how is it that big of an issue? Colby told Ron Washington to move his start up (so he wouldn't miss any), but was told that no, they'd be okay.
ReplyDeleteIn the grand scheme of things, is one pitcher missing one start that big of a deal? Oh no, he missed his Tuesday start, so he had to make his next start what? Friday instead?
Also if he doesn't got to the ASG, then he's eligible to pitch the first or second game after the break and he makes up that missing start anyway.
All the times 'normal' people bemoan athletes not acting like 'normal' people and now we're going to bash a guy for acting like a great father?
People laughed off Cromartie not being to name his kids, but then there's actually someone out there complaining that a guy is missing one fucking game of the 35 he'll pitch to be a good father and husband?
Also, this is ludicrous:
Of the 365 days in a year, starting pitchers "work" maybe 40 of them, counting spring training and playoffs.
Like when they're pitching, Lewis is just going around impregnating his wife. He's not throwing BP sessions or studying hitters tendencies or working out. Nope, he's watching internet porn and getting chicks pregnant...
I really hate people sometimes.
Also, has anything good ever followed "I've never been/had X, but..."
ReplyDeleteIt'd be like me saying "Ben, I've never been married, but I think your wife will approve of being forced to watch a Rambo marathon and then punched in the ovaries."
It's just one of those phrases that you know is going to lead to word vomit.
Martin, I guess we are expected to assume he was a great father. I don't want to get too personal since I don't know if he is or not. What you say rings true though, we don't know much about whether he was good or not, but I am not sure he knows about dedication to his family based on what he wrote here.
ReplyDeleteRich, I didn't know he offered to move the start up a day or talked to Ron Washington about it. That makes it even worse. I think you make a great point and it isn't even a big deal. It's one start and even if he doesn't make it up, it is not like he is Roy Halladay or anything. Lewis is a decent starter, but it is not like he is guaranteed to win the game he didn't start.
I think writers like to criticize players either way. If he dedicates himself to this family at the expense of the team one time, he's a bad person, and if he has a ton of kids where it is perceived he is ignoring his children, then he is a bad person. Lewis isn't the first person this year to miss a game due to his wife going in labor and it isn't a terrible rule. I couldn't believe he was angry Lewis missed one start.
Pitchers also throw on the side and do other work that doesn't just involve sitting in the dugout. You are right, a starting pitcher works more than one or two days a week.
I think you are right. Very little good can come when a sentence starts that way. I've never tried to tame a cobra before, but I can't imagine it would be hard to just grab one around the neck.