SAN FRANCISCO _ Hunter Strickland had surgery to repair a broken right pinkie, which was termed successful by Bruce Bochy on Wednesday, but the Giants manager said he has still not talked to his closer about the loss of emotional control, which cost the team one of its most important pitchers.
"I have not seen Hunter, to be honest," Bochy said before the Giants closed out a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at AT&T Park. "I do think he's coming in today. I'll get a chance to talk to him ... but the surgery went well ... without talking to him, I know how remorseful he is about what's happened.
"You guys saw his tweet and it's sincere. I know (general manager) Bobby Evans has talked to him and (trainer) Dave Groeschner. Heat of the moment got him."
Strickland, who posted a lengthy apology on social media Tuesday night, is expected to miss six to eight weeks. He broke his pinkie finger after punching a door following a blown save in Monday night's 5-4 loss to Miami.
Bochy said there's a fine line between being emotional and crossing the line and hurting the team. He acknowledged that Strickland crossed that line He also believes emotion is a big part of his game and remembers one of his pitchers whose tantrums resulted in fixtures being torn from walls.
"Some guys are yellers, screamers, some guys kick stuff," Bochy said. "Unfortunately he decided to hit something with his hand. I had a pitcher, Kevin Brown, that remodeled bathrooms. That was his deal. You couldn't stop him. That's what made him good, too. But I don't know what park in the National League that he didn't remodel."
The Strickland episode was preceded by a brief exchange between the pitcher and Miami outfielder Lewis Brinson after Bochy removed his pitcher from the game.
Strickland had thrown an inside pitch to Brinson during his at-bat, and then gave up a hit. Brinson flipped his bat, and television cameras caught Giants players, including Madison Bumgarner and Mark Melancon, chirping at Brinson from the dugout rail.
So when Brinson was hit the following night by rookie Dereck Rodriguez, Miami manager Don Mattingly assumed his player was being thrown at. Rodriguez received a warning, so when Miami pitcher Dan Straily later hit Buster Posey, both Mattingly and Straily were ejected.
Afterward, Mattingly told reporters he didn't think either team was throwing at hitters. Bochy, speaking in general terms, seemed to indicate there was some intent going on and referred to having two of his players _ third baseman Evan Longoria and shortstop Kelby Tomlinson _ being hit by Miami pitchers.
Bochy revisited the topic of intent Wednesday and conceded the interpretation is different in each dugout.
"It's always funny how every team looks at it different on intent. When you hit their guy, they assume you did it on purpose, but when they hit your guy, 'Hey, we didn't mean to do it.' We run into that all the time. I will say that hitting guys is not as intentional as a lot of people think."
As for on-field celebrations and Brinson's bat flip, Bochy said that's another area with a sliding scale when it comes to being excessive or part of the game.
"I don't know where you draw that line," Bochy said. "That line has moved quite a bit over the years. I guess in today's game there's going to be more celebrating, which is fine. Guys show their passion. You get it, but you start yelling and cursing, that's going to tick off some people. I don't know if that line has a distinct place. It's different for everybody, probably every pitcher."
