Archive: August, 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Hey folks, the real beer tosser has turned himself in.

Here's the link

www.suntimes.com/sports/1715030,cubs-beer-throwing-13.article

 

Most of what Shane Victorino has said about a beer being poured on him Wednesday night has been forgiving and refreshing. At first he jokingly commended the ``timing’’ of the throw, brushed it off as no big deal, laughed about it even.

But the Cubs and the city of Chicago? Not so much. Cubs front office personnel apologized personally to Victorino before Thursday’s matinee, Cubs manager Lou Piniella did after the game, and two Chicago cops took his statement after Wednesday’s 12-5 victory.

When Shane subsequently decided to file a complaint, his tone changed a bit too. He said, ``The guy should be held accountable’’, a sentiment slapped all over both Chicago newspapers Thursday.

That’s right. Even if Shane is just helping Chicago find the right guy and not all that outraged (as it seems), the hammer of the law needs to come down hard on these people, so it stops.

But this, uttered after he filed a civil complaint about the incident, was chilling, even if unintentionally so: ``If it happens on the streets, I don't think he'd be walking too far with something like that happening in the streets,’’ Shane said.

It was just less than three weeks ago that a spilled beer inside of McFadden’s Restaurant led to a fatal gang beating in a parking lot outside of Citizens Bank Park. No, it didn’t quite happen on the streets, but the ridiculous overreaction to the slight did, and it led to the death of a 22-year-old man, David Sale.

I’m sure the Phillies centerfielder wasn’t thinking about this when he made his comments yesterday. But he should be careful with his words. Pouring a beer on a centerfielder is unacceptable. So, too, is taking the law into your own hands.


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Posted by Sam Donnellon @ 7:09 PM  Permalink | 68 comments
Thursday, August 13, 2009

I would like to apologize to Chan Ho Park.

I wasn’t crazy about this signing last winter. I put him on the list of those guys who pitched well when it really didn’t matter, tried to get too cute and too precise when it did. I saw the up and down career that started with such promise when he was still in his teens, saw last postseason as evidence of him not pitching big when things got big.

Park has been everything I thought he wasn’t this season, beginning with gracefully handling his disappointment being removed as a starter, and pitching well immediately afterwards. After watching J.A. Happ keep the game manageable Tuesday night and Park hand the ball to the back of the bullpen, you couldn’t help but smile about the twists and turns of a 162-game season. It’s part of why paying attention to this sport is so much fun. The more you do, the more there is to see.

Anyway, Park has won me over. I was dead wrong last winter.

I also think Happ’s Tuesday start was an indication that he isn’t just this year’s edition of Kyle Kendrick. He didn’t have much. Yet he kept them in it, even as they were being no-hit. Good stuff.

*
Shane Victorino on the guy who dumped a beer on him: ``I tip my hat to him. He had perfect timing.''

Hard to not like this guy.


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Posted by Sam Donnellon @ 9:39 AM  Permalink | 26 comments
About Sam Donnellon
Donnellon's career began in Biddeford, Me., in 1981, and has included stops in Wilkes-Barre, Norfolk, and New York, where he worked as a national writer for the short-lived but highly acclaimed National Sports Daily. He has received state and national awards at each stop and since joining the Daily News in 1992 has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania and the Keystone Awards. He and his wife of 22 years have raised three fine children, none of whom are even the least bit impressed with the above.