Rain last night in D.C., and showers of work for me on the other coast, so expect intermittent blogging for the next couple days. That said, I can’t resist passing along this quote from Boston manager Terry Francona. He was asked about Texas catcher Gerald Laird trying to bunt for a hit when Boston pitcher Josh Beckett had a no-hitter going through five innings.
"You know what, I'm not big on unwritten rules anyway," Francona said. "I think their job is to try to beat us and our job is to try to beat them. I think that somewhere along the way, the book and the unwritten rule has gotten rewritten by people that don't know how to write. What was the score, 4-0? They're trying to win. I just think -- just play the game."
The best thing about the so-called “Moneyball” era — I think a better description is the “Bill James” era — isn’t plate discipline, or weird new statistics, or Pitch F/X graphics (though all those are cool). It’s the willingness to admit that old ways of thinking aren’t necessarily correct. If it’s always been done that way, it must be right — that’s one of the most dangerous assumptions a human being can make, in baseball and beyond. Check out this case.
But back to baseball: Which unwritten rules of the game irk you the most, and which ones are crucial to maintaining the integrity of the game? Discuss.
