Fish-Nats fight / Nyjer Morgan

[TooLiveBrew]

This MLB.com game recap from Aug. 28th includes Morgan running into the Cards' catcher. It's at roughly the 1:50 mark.

Would you care to add more to the conversation? So he threw an elbow earlier in the week. Here is Prince charging the Dodgers loccker room.

 

Within 5 more minutes of looking I am sure I could find something that he did in the preceding week of this event to tick of a team. At the end of the day the Marlins took not one but two opportunities to possibly end his career.

 

"Anyway he got clocked with a huge clothesline after a rather futile,

weak punch to Volstad's face so it didn't seem to be the smartest

response."

 

If by clocked you mean blindsided with a cheapshot you are correct. Watch the video the entire team piled on him and basically gouged out his eyes.

I wasn't making a comment in either direction. I provided video of the play against the Cardinals. End of story. Thought the video of the incident was an interesting contribution.

[trwi7]

It's a shame Volstad moved. Morgan would've landed a nice left if he would've stayed still. I also like how Morgan had to jump to reach Volstad's jaw. Heck of a clothesline by Sanchez to take Morgan down as well.

[WV Brew]

He ran over a catcher who didn't even have the ball. For this he was called "unprofessional" by his own manager. He deliberately nailed a fan with a baseball because he didn't like being heckled. He threw his glove when he failed to catch a ball allowing an opponent to get an inside the park home run. He has worn out his welcome in D. C. The Brewers will be welcome to him. I supposed a platoon of Gomez/Morgan is a sort of dream for some of you.

[Invader3K]

Didn't Morgan have some "issues" when he was in the minors as well? I could be mistaken.

[Gobias Industries]

It's a shame Volstad moved. Morgan would've landed a nice left if he would've stayed still. I also like how Morgan had to jump to reach Volstad's jaw. Heck of a clothesline by Sanchez to take Morgan down as well.

That was excellent. Reminded me of Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny.

[milwaukeesportsfan]

Hey there little Yankee wuss! Look here, 'got your $200. You gonna kick the crap out of me now?

[MJLiverock]

Brings back fond memories of the thread back on '09 where WAR was used to say Morgan was better than Braun.

[LouisEly]

The only reason Morgan bowled over the catcher was because the throw was high and the catcher was fully extended trying to get it. Had the throw been on-line and the catcher in position Morgan would have bounced right off of him. I'd like to see what would have happened had the catcher been down and braced for him. I don't think Morgan would have won.

 

No issues with stealing when you're down by 11 runs in the 4th inning. IIRC twice in the last month teams have come back from 9+ down early in games to at least send it into extras. You got him with the beaning, fine, but the throw behind him was unnecessary... unless Morgan was mouthing off to him when he was on base and stealing. That is the one thing I don't know. If all Morgan did was steal 2nd and 3rd that's one thing, but if he was jawing at Volstad the whole time he was on base (and what he said) is another thing.

[monkeyman343434]

He ran over a catcher who didn't even have the ball. For this he was called "unprofessional" by his own manager. He deliberately nailed a fan with a baseball because he didn't like being heckled. He threw his glove when he failed to catch a ball allowing an opponent to get an inside the park home run. He has worn out his welcome in D. C. The Brewers will be welcome to him. I supposed a platoon of Gomez/Morgan is a sort of dream for some of you.

This is exactly how I feel. The guy is a total punk and I'd want him no where near the Brewers. I can't believe people actually like how he acted. He's been making boneheaded plays all year. The Marlins catcher the night before was off of the plate, he was setting himself up for a swipe tag, there's no reason to run over a catcher in this position.

 

 

[Mr QL]

You guys realize that he doesn't get awarded first base when a pitch is thrown behind him, right? He would've had to go back into the box to have the pitcher throw at him again.

 

Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder bowl over the cathcer any chance they get. That's part of baseball, and if the catcher doesn't like it, get off the base. Beaning him once for it is probably overkill, but he took that, because he thought it would be coming. Stealing the bases is the perfect way to get back at someone for beaning you, so I applaud him for that. The Marlins seem to be making an attempt to be the Cardinals of the South. "We know the unwritten rules, so whatever we do is right, and don't dare doubt anything we say."

 

The biggest thing I get out of this is that we should make a big effort to get Pat Listach as our manager next season.

Def love Listach diving right in there.

[phxMILWfan]

I have no problem with anything Morgan did against the Marlins. It was a close play at the plate. As previously mentioned, Weeks and Fielder take the catcher out all the time. It's a good baseball play. The Marlins threw at him and he stole a couple bases. If his team was winning by 11 then I could see complaining about it but his team was losing in the 4th inning. When they threw at 2 of his teammates and threw at him again he should charge the mound. It's the right thing to do. If the Brewers would have done that at some point this season we wouldn't be thrown at as much. Make that pitcher think about whether or not hitting the batter is worth getting clocked. If the Brewers needed an OFer I'd want Morgan on my team.

[monty57]

I don't see anyone saying they want Morgan on the Brewers. I said I'd like to see Listach as the next manager. He's been recognized as having been very good at all the positions he's held, and seeing him tackle & subdue the pitcher to protect his player makes me think the current Brewers roster would love to play for the guy.

 

As far as bowling over the catcher, there have been several times this year where Weeks has drilled the catcher when the ball was nowhere near home plate. Prince is another who always tries to take out the catcher. If there isn't going to be a play at the plate, the catcher shouldn't be on the plate or in the baseline. If he's on the plate or in the baseline, the runner should assume there is going to be a play. I'd bet money that Prince and Rickie would've drilled the catcher in that situation... maybe that's why they get beaned so much.

 

For the other issues (throwing glove, etc), I haven't seen them, and he was probably in the wrong. For stealing bases after getting hit with a pitch, I applaud him. For not wanting to get back in the box when the pitcher is obviously trying to hit him, I don't really have a problem with him charging the mound. I can't get behind the thought that players should just laugh and walk to first when pitchers are obviously trying to drill them (which really hurts, and can lead to injury). Morgan did shake it off when he was hit the first time. But how many times is he supposed to allow himself to be a sitting duck before he does something?

 

Not every team lives by Macha's "whine to the MLB execs and let them give a short suspension which is then quickly overturned" mantra. Everyone knows there is no repercussion to drilling Brewers batters at will, so they will continue to do it. Luckily Rickie's tough as nails and has a hard head, and Gomez is useless and wasn't missed, but we've already had two hitters drilled in the head. Would people be such pacifists if Weeks or Fielder were knocked out for the season or had their careers ended because we refuse to defend ourselves?

[pitchleague]

WV Brew wrote:

---

I supposed a platoon of Gomez/Morgan is a sort of dream for some of you.

Yeah, a bloody nightmare, maybe.

[Tailgat0r76]

I cannot stand how the Marlins announcers were calling these parts of the games. They recap the night, and explain how "he hit Morgan in a professional manner; they didn't throw at his head" and then dog the guy for stealing some bases (successfully I may add). Then it's Morgan that needs to be seriously dealt with by the MLB before someone gets hurt...

 

I'm sorry but I see nothing wrong with what Morgan did tonight. If he didn't have a track record, this would not be as big of an issue.

[logan82]

Well at least he didn't go whining to his teammates to retaliate and risk suspension for him. Kind of dumb to start a fight but I still think it is much better than beaning one of their guys.

[DuWayne Steurer]

"There's nothing good I can say about someone who doesn't play the game the right way and doesn't respect the integrity of the game," Florida's Wes Helms said

 

Shut up fatty. A clean hit on your catcher and then stealing 2 bases when losing is not the right way to play?

 

Morgan may well be a jerk (I'm not doubting or denying that) but I see nothing wrong with the sequence of events that occurred on Morgan's behalf.

[monty57]

Yeah, I thought it was funny that Wes Helms suddenly became Florida's resident expert on how to play the game the right way in order to respect the integrity of the game. Maybe he should learn how to test the integrity of a wet ramp before stepping onto it.

[Mike]

Who needs them? For that matter Milkwaukee has Lo Cain and probably needs either.

Regarding the actions of Mr. Morgan, I have no problem with his charge of the mound after the 2nd attempt to drill him. Afterall, he took the first one like a man and trotted to first head down.

Now that does not completely exonerate him because he asked for it. First by obviously bumping St. Louis' catcher when he clearly was out of the way, second when he threw a ball in the stands at a fan who was heckling him and 3rd when he ambushed the Florida catcher. Ambushed because it was not with the intent of jarring the ball loose.

He needs anger management training.

Bay Area Baseball Happenings

[theavrock]

Morgan is an idiot, that is for sure. All of his other incidents, except those involving the Marlins were a guy who is a little off the rocker and out of control.

That being said Morgan did nothing wrong. He took out a catcher on a bang bang play. If that throw was online he is out if he slides. There is no one telling Morgan to slide or not. For the Marlins to throw at him over that, its ridiculous. He took the pitch to the backside and took his base. Then stole some bases when they were down big. Nothing wrong with that.

The Nats ended up scoring 10 runs in the game, so coming back wasn't out of the question given that it was the 4th inning.

 

So they throw at him again. I would charge the mound too.

Regardless of what you think of Morgan he did nothing wrong when it comes to the Marlins.

[bacon06]

For the record, it's beaNing not beaMing. Teams get in beanball wars not beamball wars. Sorry, that just bugs me.

[owbc]

Morgan does not play the game the right way. In fact, he is a train wreck and it was just a matter of time before something like this happened.

 

He is already appealing a 7-game suspension for getting into a verbal altercation with a Phillies fan. He clearly has not learned his lesson from that experience, since he was engaged with heckling Marlins fans throughout the series, including yelling obscenities back at the fans.

 

On Saturday night, he lowered his elbow and ran into catcher Bryan Anderson. There was no throw to home plate. In addition, he was called out for missing home plate.

 

He publicly disagreed with Riggleman after getting benched on Sunday for the above incident.

 

Remember the clip earlier in the year when he jumped up at the wall to catch a fly ball, missed, and threw his glove down in disgust? The ball was sitting on the warning track and the play continued while he had his temper tantrum.

 

Morgan leads the league in caught stealing (15) and times picked off (11). In other words, he has made 26 outs trying to steal bases, while he has drawn 31 walks in 497 PA.

 

Morgan's WAR is 0.3.

 

If you want to play hard like Morgan, you better back it up with some integrity and skill. Instead, he's just a punk that will soon be playing in the minor leagues.

[theavrock]

Morgan does not play the game the right way. In fact, he is a train wreck and it was just a matter of time before something like this happened.

 

He is already appealing a 7-game suspension for getting into a verbal altercation with a Phillies fan. He clearly has not learned his lesson from that experience, since he was engaged with heckling Marlins fans throughout the series, including yelling obscenities back at the fans.

 

On Saturday night, he lowered his elbow and ran into catcher Bryan Anderson. There was no throw to home plate. In addition, he was called out for missing home plate.

 

He publicly disagreed with Riggleman after getting benched on Sunday for the above incident.

 

Remember the clip earlier in the year when he jumped up at the wall to catch a fly ball, missed, and threw his glove down in disgust? The ball was sitting on the warning track and the play continued while he had his temper tantrum.

 

Morgan leads the league in caught stealing (15) and times picked off (11). In other words, he has made 26 outs trying to steal bases, while he has drawn 31 walks in 497 PA.

 

Morgan's WAR is 0.3.

 

If you want to play hard like Morgan, you better back it up with some integrity and skill. Instead, he's just a punk that will soon be playing in the minor leagues.

Yes he is a train wreck and everything you said is true, but do you think he did anything wrong with the Marlins?

[Buckylovesbeer]

I think part of all of this that many people are forgetting is apparently Morgan had been running his mouth both last night (after the first hbp), but also after he hit the catcher the night before. Early word this morning was that he was doing a lot of talking about his hit from Tuesday night.

 

It all blew up once he got on base to steal after the first hbp. While being on base and stealing, he was jawing at everyone within earshot. Wanting to "go." I am not sure if I am a guy who is about 5'10", and 160lbs (he is officially listed as bigger, but we all know how that goes) I would not pick a fight with a pitcher who is a tad bigger than Kameron Loe. The jump punch may have worked if he would have landed it, or have had some mass behind it. Him getting drilled.....you go to a fight, you have to expect it. Its not too often you see a real bench clearing brawl, including a coach involved!

 

His actions....whatever. Some will like it, some will hate it. This sucker was building for a while and we all were entertained. I would not want him as a Brewer, esp w/Lo Cain.

[Buckylovesbeer]

And Wes Helms......too funny that he is a spokesperson for anything. What got me was the fact he drove in 5 runs during the game......who knew?

[owbc]

Morgan was looking for trouble. If he just made the plays and kept his mouth shut, it would be fine. He is statistically either the worst or second-worst player in the NL and he is constantly running his mouth and getting into altercations. There's more to it than the Marlins' quotes.