Whose Game, Whose Rules?

Yesterday afternoon, Tim Anderson of the White Sox did something I very much liked, hitting a gargantuan two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning against Kansas City.  Then, Anderson did something I didn’t like, flipping his bat in the direction of the Sox dugout and shouting.  Then, he reacted to something he should have known was coming, when Royals’ starter Brad Keller hit him square in the posterior two innings later.

 

After the game, which the Sox lost 4-3 in ten innings, Anderson was quoted in the Tribune (thank goodness it was a home game the Trib could afford to send someone to), “I’m going to continue to be me and keep having fun.  Our fans pay their hard-earned money to come to the ballpark to see a show, so why don’t I give them one?”  Hmm.

 

Sox manager Rick Renteria defended his shortstop, saying, “Timmy wasn’t showing them up or showing the pitcher up.  He was looking into our dugout, getting the guys going.”  Question, Rick: how is Kansas City supposed to know Anderson’s intent?  Also, isn’t the fourth inning awfully early for so big a show of emotion?

 

Couldn’t something like that fire up the opposition?  You said in the Sun-Times that if a team doesn’t want Anderson showing off, “Get him out.”  What does that say about Anderson, who got kicked out of the game by Joe West after being plunked?  Using your logic, if he didn’t like getting hit, shouldn’t he have kept his mouth shut, trotted down to first base and do everything in his power to score the go-ahead run in a tie game?  Doesn’t Anderson hurt his team by getting ejected?  Won’t teams continue to throw at him so that he charges the mound and gets tossed on a regular basis?

 

By my count, Anderson has ticked off three starting pitchers since last year, Trevor Bauer of the Indians, Justin Verlander of the Astros and now Keller of the Royals.  That’s an impressive list, to which you can add KC’s catcher Sal Perez, who went at it with Anderson last year.  Here’s something else that would be impressive, Anderson channeling his emotions.  After putting his team ahead in the fourth, Anderson then let an easy groundball get by him for an error.  Instead of an inning-ending double play, Kansas City went on to score two runs and tie the game. 

For the record, Anderson has five errors on the season to go with his four homeruns.