Paulie is a classy guy,and he will always say the right thing. I believe he is right that Smarmy was not trying to hit him, just move him off the plate. Big distinction.
Some Cub announcers and fans continue to maintain that because it was a split finger pitch,there was no way he was even trying to come inside...I disagree. I do think he wanted to move his feet,but not hit him in the face. Fine...that is allowed,after a guy hits a homer off of you. Smarmy has only hit two batters all year,and they both happen to be the only guys who have hit homers in their prior at bats...Heyward and Konerko. So,clearly,Smarmy has had great control this year,with only two hit batters, except when a guy hits a homer off of him,and then he loses control 100% of those occasions....weird. I think Smarmy has had a good year in part because he is throwing inside,and keeping guys from digging in. So, he is going to do that to guys that hit homers off of him...and this time,it did get away a little more than he intended. Fine. PK knows that. And so do Humber,and Ventura,so they did the correct baseball thing,and threw at the Cubs 1st basemen/best hitter,LaHair,and the message was sent. And Humber/Ventura totally denied it after the game. Again,the proper baseball way to handle that.
Peavy is a hot-head,but he did not hit anyone yesterday,so he calmed down and did the right baseball thing when facing a team he can shut down...just shut them down and go home.
The history on the Sox side is that our last manager,Ozzie Guillen, did the opposite of Ventura...he talked big,but his pitchers never hit anyone after the Sox batters got plunked. Wrong way to handle it....talk little,and just plunk them back. Sox batters let the league the last two years in getting hit,and their pitchers hit fewer oppo batters than anyone in the league....not good.
