Who Nose who the Clown is?

I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of Madison Bumgarner. He finally wins a game and looked good doing it on Saturday striking out 9 in 8 innings while only giving up 4 hits and 2 runs with 0 walks. That stat line is what we all should be talking about, instead, we are not because MadBum is trying to be the pitching police yet again. 

Victor Robles took Madison Bumgarner deep in the 8th inning on Saturday for the National's second run of the game. The problem was the Diamondbacks had already scored 7 runs. His run meant nothing. But MadBum got all bent out of shape because he admired his work for a few seconds. Robles did not toss his bat or make any gestures, he watched it, and that was it. Davey Martinez, Washington's Manager even said after the Saturday game that he had seen "way, way worse." And went on to say that Robles, "didn't do much to warrant that" referring to the comments made by MadBum. 

What did MadBum say?

“That guy is a clown,” Bumgarner said. “Golly. No shame, no shame. It’s 7-1, you hit your third homer of the year [and] you act like Barry Bonds breaking the record. Clean it up. I don’t care about giving up the run — hell, we won 7-2, 8-2, whatever it was. It’s frustrating. I’m the old, grumpy guy, I know. But that type of stuff didn’t used to happen. Now, that’s ridiculous.”

If you don't care about giving up the run, then why is it frustrating?

Speaking through an interpreter, Robles told reporters including MASN’s Mark Zuckerman that Bumgarner “seems like he calls everybody a clown that actually has a big hit or home run against him.” The southpaw has called out opposing hitters such as Max Muncy and Yasiel Puig before, growing angry over how much emotion they displayed in the batter’s box.

What I really liked was what Robles said next, “If he doesn’t want anybody hitting a home run against him or having any issues with that, then keep striking people out or making better pitches to where he doesn’t have to worry about that.” I agree. It is like in other sports where a team runs the score up on another team and the coach of the team who got trounced complains that the winning team continued to score. I would say if you don't want to be humiliated, then simply stop them from scoring. 

And here is the other part of this, it is Bumgarner, the guy who is 6-9 this season, and has not had a winning season in 6 years. You had a great stretch from 2012 to 2016 with the Giants, but that pitcher is gone. Since 2016 your record is 33-48. Stop trying to be the pitching police, when you don't have your badge anymore. And don't act like you have never celebrated an accomplishment on the mound, I have video proof above, and that was just against another pitcher.

Robles, for his part, was seen in the dugout of Sunday's game wearing a red clown nose. I liked it, I laughed about it. He proved a point without being disrespectful.

But the guy I now have new respect for is Davey Martinez. He would prefer Robles to send his messages with his bat or glove, rather than a clown nose. He said after Sunday's game, "I didn’t see it. I heard about it. I’ll talk to him…but yeah, that’s not who we are, right?” Martinez said quoted by MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato. “It happened. It’s done. I don’t want to see that kind of stuff.” So, Martinez took up for his player and chastised his player. I like that.

But I don't like Madbum running his mouth, while he wins 6 games so far, and earns $23MM doing so.