Arizona Diamondbacks could teach the Dodgers a lesson about attitude
By Trisha Garcia
Whether the Los Angeles Dodgers head to the World Series undefeated, or not, they could learn a lesson in humility from teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are not the juggernaut-Dodgers, but even after three (or four) home runs in a single game, you’d never see Paul Goldschmidt or J.D. Martinez flip their bat.
Let’s not pretend that bat-flipping isn’t completely justified in some cases, it can make the game fun and it can drive rivalries. But, Yasiel Puig bat-flipped after drawing a walk and it wasn’t the first time he bat-flipped in this series.
Then again, Puig isn’t exactly the picture of class and respect in the sport, but the Dodgers’ brand of baseball is a problem.
It’s cocky and it’s classless.
Bat flips should be reserved for monster home runs, or walk offs, not bases-loaded walks like the one Yu Darvish drew in Game Four of the NLCS. Yes, the pitcher actually flipped his bat for drawing a walk.
Archie Bradley hit (probably) the greatest two-RBI triple in baseball history in the Wild Card game and he did not flip his bat.
Was he pumped about it? Yes.
Did he take off his helmet and stare down his dugout? Yes.
Did he flip his bat? No.
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When Bradley celebrates a shut down inning against baseball’s best team, then he’s a nuisance. But, Puig’s your friend. That’s a level of hypocrisy that seems beyond common sense.
In a likely biased opinion, J.D. Martinez had four reasons to flip his bat at Dodger Stadium on September 4th, but he didn’t.
The Dodgers could have intentionally walked him. They could have hit him with a pitch.
But, they chose to pitch to him and he sent balls flying over the walls in four consecutive at-bats…and he never flipped his bat.
With the number of lead changes in the NL Wild Card game, the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks could have bat-flipped a number of times, but they didn’t.
Yet, the Dodgers seem to think that every at-bat is worthy of the act.
It’s the sort of attitude that fans criticize from Bryce Harper, from Odell Beckham Jr. and the like.
“That athlete is too humble, I hate it,” said no one ever.
Fans love humility. Fans love good baseball.
Here’s a secret the Dodgers might not know: you can have both, just look at the Diamondbacks.
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