By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Doug Mientkiewicz, left, and Diamondbacks starter Randy Johnson are restrained by umpire Jeff Kellogg and Arizona catcher Miguel Montero in the third inning yesterday at PNC Park.
The incident itself wasn't all that much. No punches were thrown yesterday after Pirates first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and Arizona pitcher Randy Johnson exchanged vulgar words in the third inning at PNC Park.
What followed was almost comical, actually. Both benches quickly cleared, as they usually do. Players from each bullpen sprinted in side by side from the outfield, more ticked about having to exert themselves on a blistering hot day than at anyone on the other team. Finally came the stragglers from the two clubhouses -- some not even in complete uniform -- lest anyone accuse them of being afraid of a brawl.
But as silly as the whole thing seemed after order was restored, it said something good about the Pirates, something even more positive than their 5-3 win, their second-consecutive impressive win against the first-place Diamondbacks.
We're talking about a team that hasn't been known for its spirit -- fighting or otherwise -- by this point of the season.
"We're 40-strong in here between the players and coaches," Mientkiewicz said. "I'd have been disappointed if everyone hadn't come out like that. You're supposed to have each other's back. ... That's a start for a team that's trying to earn respect in this league."
The Pirates still have a ways to go to prove they can be a winning team, although this latest win bumped them to 31-33 and put them in position to climb above .500 if they can sweep the dreadful Washington Nationals at home the next three days. But the Pirates already have proved they aren't afraid to scrap. Just one measure of proof is their eight come-from-behind wins after the sixth inning; they had nine all of last season.
"These guys play hard from the first out to the 27th out," manager John Russell said.
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Starter Zach Duke pitched six innings yesterday, giving up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.
As Mientkiewicz showed, the Pirates also aren't afraid to battle between pitches.
It's no wonder Johnson was upset when Mientkiewicz stepped out on him twice before a 2-1 pitch, the first time after Johnson had started his wind-up. "Once those guys get going, it's hard for them to stop," Mientkiewicz said. "I understand that. But I wasn't trying to get anyone hurt. I was just trying to get set. I don't get many at-bats these days. I want to take advantage of the ones that I do get."
A lesser hitter -- a lesser man -- would have allowed Johnson to speak his piece and then get back in the box. The Big Unit isn't just a future Hall of Famer with 288 wins and the second-most strikeouts in history. He's 6 feet 10 and must look like Godzilla to opposing batters.
But Mientkiewicz felt he couldn't let Johnson show him up. "The fact that it was a thousand degrees out there probably didn't help," Mientkiewicz said. So he walked slowly toward the mound, barking, as Johnson walked slowly toward him, barking. Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit, who was among the first out of the dugout, had to hold Mientkiewicz back as home-plate umpire Jeff Kellogg reached up and tugged on Johnson.
"Dougie is just a hard-nosed player," Russell said. "He loves to play the game hard. He loves to play it the right way."
Said the equally intense and, in this case, disingenuous Johnson: "[The incident] didn't bother me at all. If it would have, he'd probably be on a stretcher and I'd probably be out of the game."
Johnson was out of the game soon enough as it was; he didn't make it out of the sixth inning and lost a little more ground in his race to get to 300 wins with age (turning 45 Sept. 10) and bad health (three back surgeries, two in the past year). Give Mientkiewicz much of the credit. He walked and scored after the incident, singled to set up the Pirates' second run in the fourth and walked and scored in the sixth.
Those were three terrific at-bats for a left-handed hitter against the left-handed Johnson, who's still a beast against lefties because he appears to be releasing the ball 10 feet from them.
"It's definitely not comfortable hitting against him by any means," Mientkiewicz said. "But [former teammate] Carlos Beltran taught me a long time ago that, once the pitcher releases the ball, you're not hitting against the pitcher, you're hitting against the ball. I've never forgotten that."
Mientkiewicz and I can agree to disagree on what was the best part of this great day at the ballpark. He said it was the fact the Pirates "beat a future Hall of Famer." I say it's that they showed they weren't going to be pushed around, not even by one of the game's most intimidating bullies.
That spirit doesn't guarantee a winner, of course. The previous time the Pirates had a bench-clearing incident was before a home game against the St. Louis Cardinals in August 2005 when manager Lloyd McClendon and hitting coach Gerald Perry got involved in a nasty scrap with Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan. McClendon was fired two weeks later with his team on its way to a 67-95 record.
No, that spirit doesn't guarantee anything.
But I do know this:
A team can't win without it.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com
First published on June 10, 2008 at 12:00 am
No comments:
Post a Comment