The Marlins’ season has officially gotten so frustrating that players are injuring themselves. Hanley Ramirez is currently in a 2-for-22 slump, and he is not happy with himself. During the sixth inning of Sunday’s game against the Cardinals — one that ended with another blown save from Heath Bell — Hanley punched a cooling fan in the dugout after grounding out. He needed two stitches on his knuckle, but the team is optimistic he will be fine for the second half.
Hanley said he punched the fan because he “got mad” and is upset with his lack of production. As you can imagine, Ozzie Guillen was not happy with his third baseman’s reaction.
“Very stupid injury, very immature,” Guillen said after the game according to the Miami Herald. “You’re going to hurt yourself because you can’t hit? Good hitters don’t do that. Good hitters battle back and try to get better. Your injury doesn’t just hurt yourself, you hurt your ball club.
“I don’t pay attention to stupidities. That made me mad. Players get hurt for no reason — hitting stuff. That’s very childish. We’re not kids. We’re grown people. When you struggle and you’re a great player you have to try and be better. To be honest with you I didn’t even ask him, I was so disappointed. We built this ballclub around him. This is the man in this ballclub and I never criticized Hanley Ramirez for not having the season we thought he had, but I will for hurting himself.”
You certainly can’t blame Ozzie for being furious. After seeing the horrible injury Amar’e Stoudemire suffered by doing something similar, it’s a shame athletes don’t learn from situations like that and think before they act. Hand injuries that are the result of clumsiness and stem from cleaning out a blender or trying to cut strings off your glove are tough to avoid. Cutting your finger by punching something isn’t.
H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE
