Miguel Tejada is having an extremely tough time with the concept of getting old. When you were once among the top players in baseball and are now dealing with questions about your range, that can happen. Tejada is not the player he once was, and the only person who cannot seem to accept that is Miguel Tejada.
When the Giants were trailing the Astros by a run in the 11th inning Monday night, Tejada was called off the bench as a pinch hitter. With a runner on first and no outs, acting manager Ron Wotus (Bruce Bochy had been ejected) asked him to bunt and move the runner into scoring position. This did not please Tejada.
“I shook my head. I was thinking I was sent up to hit,” Tejada told the San Francisco Chronicle after the game. “After that, I did my job. I put the bunt down. I’m not the only guy who was surprised yesterday to see the bunt sign.
“I just work here,” Tejada said. “Whatever the manager tells me to do, I gotta do. I respect the manager and the team and my teammates. He tells me to do it, I’ll do it. If that’s the way I’m going to help the team, I’ll do it.”
Tejada shook his head repeatedly when he saw the bunt sign come in from third base coach Tim Flannery and then jogged to first after laying it down. The Giants stranded the runner at second and went on to lose, but that’s hardly the point.
After the game, Tejada reportedly asked why the manager didn’t send a pitcher to the plate to bunt instead of him. Showing up your coaches like that is completely unprofessional — especially in a situation where the bunt makes perfect sense and the hitter is toting a .237 average. It would seem Tejada is still in desperate need of an ego check.
