'Oh, crap. Whatever. Why do I have to deal with this knucklehead?'
Buster Posey can say whatever he wants with his mouth and his own words about what happened Sunday afternoon. Posey can put his own spin on the way Giants' reliever Hunter Strickland's purpose-pitch hit Washington Nationals' star Bryce Harper in the butt and sparked a bench-clearing meltdown. But anyone who watched Posey's body language during the play could see exactly what was happening inside his brain.
'Really, dude? And you expect me to defend you after ... that?'
The unwritten rules of Major League Baseball decree that when an angry batter leaves the box and charges at the pitcher, the catcher is supposed to sprint out and make an effort to hold back the batter before he reaches the mound.
Posey did just the opposite when Strickland plunked the Harper, who reacted with a stare and then a sprint. Watch the video. As Harper storms toward Strickland, Posey actually takes a half step backward. He watches.
'You're on your own, pal. I can't believe this. But you deserve whatever happens.'
The action continues. Posey still watches. Harper throws his helmet toward first base. Posey still watches. Harper and Strickland start exchanging wild swings. Posey still watches. Benches empty. Only then does Posey begin jogging toward the fracas. He stays outside the mob of people and then is nudged away from the scene by manager Bruce Bochy as other teammates restrain Strickland and wrestle him into the home dugout. He was pitching inside against Harper as "revenge" for the two home runs that the Nationals' outfielder hit off Strickland in the 2014 playoffs _ which, if you're scoring this stupid episode, was three years ago.
If it weren't for the reaction of Posey, it would just be another nonsensical hot-temper incident in a long baseball season that played out the way these things do. But the body language of the Giants' best player alerted the baseball world that something might be amiss.
"That's the part that stood out the most to me," said ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez, the former major league. "The catcher is always taught, 'Don't allow the hitter to leave that dirt area and protect your pitcher at all costs.' And you didn't see that out of Buster Posey."
So what did it mean? Posey implied afterward that with his famously repaired formerly mangled ankle from 2011 being held together by metal pins and plates, he has been cautioned to avoid any unnecessary carnage and that "it'd be a little dangerous to get in there sometimes." But in this case, there is certainly more to it.
As everyone knows, Posey is the center of gravity inside the Giants' room. He has been almost since 2010 when he joined the team full time. He calls the pitches on the field and he calls out teammates when needed. He has a dry and wicked sense of humor but is a very serious man. We don't see everything that happens when the locker room door shuts. But you get the impression that before any other Giants' player speaks up, he at least glances over to Posey to see how he's reacting.
Bochy seems OK with that. Beyond OK with that, actually. As a former catcher himself, Bochy knows the value of having a catcher being a team leader. And when this particular catcher has been a key component of three World Series championships, Bochy is going to tap into whatever Posey does and shows him.
Combine those two factors, and it tells you only one thing. Strickland is probably not going to be a Giant for much longer.
Strickland has been the troubled child of the Giants' bullpen more or less since he joined the roster in 2014. Away from the field, he might be the finest humanitarian ever (and in fact has appeared on a television show where he assists disabled people who like to hunt deer.) But on the field, he can be stubborn to a fault.
Strickland believes his 98 miles-per-hour fastball to be invincible. It isn't. That stubbornness helped lead to those two Harper home runs in the 2014 postseason. And it crops up regularly. Thinking here of a game back on May 11, when Strickland was pitching with the score tied in the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds.
That night, with an 0-2 count against Reds' batter Zack Cozart, Strickland threw one of his invincible fastballs across the plate that Cozart whacked for a double and drove in the eventual winning run.
Afterward, Bochy appeared in the AT&T Park interview room and spoke generally about too many of his pitchers giving up too many hits on 0-2 counts instead of trying to leverage the count and get batters to swing at balls out of the strike zone.
Bochy never mentioned Strickland by name. Wasn't needed. Strickland and his macho pitching philosophy _ and inability or disinterest in developing a different approach with more change-of-pace deliveries _ has served him well enough to put him on a major league roster in a fairly important bullpen role. It has also made him look bad on many occasions. And his stubbornness about it must drive Posey crazy. He and Strickland are both from Georgia. Their two home towns are just 90 miles apart. They couldn't be any more different, personality-wise. Remember the Posey body language during the Sunday mayhem. Another catcher might have tried to fake it and make a half-baked move to "hold back" Strickland. Posey is too honest for that. He watched.
'Yeah, you're my teammate, bud. But right now, I am not feeling like I want to be your teammate forever.'
Some will speculate that Posey was passive in (not) defending Strickland because Posey realizes that if the Nationals retaliate for the plunking of Harper, the most likely target will be ... that's right, Posey. But this seems to be something deeper, something that has built up over a much longer period.
It's true that Strickland's personal grudge and puerile response will make the Giants' life more difficult. At least one pundit has suggested that the team should pro-actively suspend Strickland as an effort to stave off any Nationals' payback. That wouldn't be the worst idea. Nationals' manager Dusty Baker was diplomatic in the wake of the Harper-Strickland brawl. Plus, if I know Bochy and Baker _ and I do in the professional sense _ then my guess is that the two men have already talked about the situation.
The bigger concern at this point may be what this all does inside the Giants' clubhouse. Really, the next move is obvious. It might even trigger the roster shakeup that the team needs. Given the Giants' woeful state in the won-loss department, the last thing they need is more internal ulcers if they intend to climb back into 2017 relevancy. Strickland could likely be traded without much difficulty.
Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti will have to figure out a way to patch up his bullpen spot. But is it worth keeping Strickland on the team if he's going to make your best player broadcast that Sunday image to the world _ without saying a word? Run the video again. Watch Posey.
'This is messed up. Really messed up. Our team is better than this. Is this the way the whole summer is going to be? Are the bosses watching?'
