The Los Angeles Dodgers are in first place in the NL West division, but they have lost four of their last seven games. A few nervous fans have been taking out their frustrations on Howie Kendrick, and the veteran infielder is not happy about it.
On Monday, Kendrick went on an Instagram rant telling fans to calm down and ripping them for criticizing him. It appears he deleted the post, but Chad Moriyama captured a screenshot first.
“It’s funny how people who never played baseball at a professional level or maybe even high school have an opinion about baseball,” Kendrick wrote. “Of course it’s easy to sit on the couch and be a good coach or player. I guarantee you everyone that is talking would look like a complete fool in the batter’s box. There’s a reason we are Major League Baseball players. So will all the coaches and critics go follow someone else. Our TEAM IS FINE. No one can be great all the time that’s why we are a team. The true fans get it.
“As for my posting guns etc., my hobbies are my hobbies and I don’t really care if anyone likes them. I can tell that many people do though. So for those that are like minded I’ll continue to post more non baseball related things. I don’t eat sleep and breathe baseball. I have this other thing called a life. Sorry for the rant but it needed to be said.”
For starters, it’s never a good idea to let the trolls get the best of you. Ignoring them is almost always the way to go. But where Howard really went wrong is saying he doesn’t “eat sleep and breathe” baseball. While that may be true, fans are always going to jump all over that.
Plays like this one prove that Kendrick isn’t afraid to go all-out. He’s also hitting .294 this season with a .341 on-base percentage, so he has obvious value to the team. Unfortunately, the line about having a life other than baseball probably turned off a lot of fans.
