By JIMMY D / Kudos for Kuroda? You’re all kooky | Jimmy's archive

Hockey gets mocked south of the border for its ‘code’ of making sure that misdeeds do not go unpunished.

Run the goalie, expect to be jumped. Plow the star player from behind, expect to fight three times for the rest of the game and probably three times the next time you play. Is that good sportsmanship? Is that violent or wrong? Maybe, maybe not.

But you know that actions merit equal and opposite reactions. Do the crime, you will do the time.

Would you rather have that or baseball’s comical attempts to employ this code. If you watched, it was hysterically apparent Sunday night in Game 3 of the NLCS.

The stage had been set from Game 2 when Philly Brett Myers threw a pitch – accidentally he said - behind the temperamental Manny Ramirez. He didn’t hit him but everyone took it as a threat. Talk about fantasy baseball…

When LA’s pitcher Chad Billingsley failed to fire at a Philly batter the next inning, everyone lamented he was not protecting his teammates and was a coward of some type. The Dodgers were behind 2-0 in the series and it was because the ‘code’ was not being respected.

Fast forward to Game 3 and 45-year-old Jamie Moyer is struggling through the first inning and plunks catcher Russell Martin on the leg with a 75-mph fastball. For comparison sake, Jimmy’s eight-year-old throws harder than that. In baseball terms, it’s akin to being pelted with marshmallows.

It’s like complaining that a mighty-mite like Martin St. Louis took you out of the play with an open-ice check.

But Martin, the good Canadian boy who apparently wants more hockey mentality in baseball, was furious. It didn’t matter when he took foul tips of the leg and mask and blocked 35 pitches in the dirt, all of which likely hurt more than the Moyer ‘fast’ball.

When Moyer’s replacement Clay Condrey was up and in on Martin next inning, he flipped out.

The ‘code’ in baseball calls for spiking unsuspecting middle infielders – often smallish, spindly players known for quickness, not brawn – during a double-play slide or jamming a fastball into a batter’s back or head. Note that the fastball is almost never thrown at the player who has caused the upset in the first place, just the next poor schmuck in the batting order.

Or in the case of Sunday night’s NLCS game, when the next small schmuck in the batting order came up.

Jimmy Rollins was at the plate. Rollins is not a big man, but has a bit of nutty edge to him. Kuroda pitched inside (even as catcher Martin set up almost directly behind Rollins apparently instructing the right-hander to plunk him) but did not hit him.

Kuroda waited for the third batter of the inning to selectively enforce the code when the dwarfish Shane Victorino - all 5 foot 7 and 175 pounds of cheerful Hawaiian – stepped to the plate. You guessed it, 93-mph fastball right at his head.

Victorino took this pretty much in stride, indicating to everyone he was happy to take a fastball in the ribs to satisfy the code Gods but would rather not have his skull split open. Kuroda was heralded as a ninja and samurai warrior for this display of bravery.

He could have made himself into a legend by selectively waiting two more batters and throwing at Ryan Howard, the 6-foot-5, 275-pound behemoth first baseman. Taking your chances firing at the head of someone who might charge the mound and squish you so small you fit in the rosin bag – now that is enforcing the code.

Take your shot at Georges Laraque instead of Saku Koivu. Try Dave Semenko instead of Jari Kurri.

Baseball players who want a code can’t cherrypick their payback spots. It’s like beating up the bully’s sister instead of confronting the bully himself.

Fantasy hockey, MMA tournament

Slow start for Jimmy’s hockey roster as his Flame-heavy roster (Iginla, Phaneuf, Bertuzzi) flamed out in two opening-weekend losses to Vancouver. The Rangers have surged to 4-0 and their early matches overseas seems to have them a bit ahead of the rest of the league. Not so for the Lightning, who remain winless despite their early matches.

Jimmy has predicted a breakout year from Brandon Dubinsky, a quick, talented guy with some moxy. He also predicts the 11-goal outburst by the Canucks is an aberration – do not jump on that bandwagon if you are looking for scoring.

MMA fans get a fantasy fighting contest to check out this week. UFC 89 is in Birmingham England headlined by Michael Bisping  vs. Chris Leben. Visit JimmyDSports.com for details on that tournament and you can challenge Jimmy D and others.

In the meantime, stay busy and stay lucky.

Jimmy D
jpoole@herald.ca