Chris Woodward said after Monday night’s game against the San Diego Padres that he did not like the way Fernando Tatis Jr. swung away with a 10-3 lead, and the Texas Rangers manager is not exactly softening that stance.
Tatis Jr. belted a grand slam on a 3-0 count in the eighth inning to give the Padres a 14-3 lead. Some felt that was a violation of baseball’s “unwritten rules,” and Woodward is among that group. The manager told the “Ben & Woods Show” on 97.3 The Fan on Tuesday he has always challenged unwritten rules, but he felt Tatis Jr.’s decision to swing away crossed the line.
“There’s a bunch of different ways you can look at it and I know everybody’s gonna have their own opinion on it,” Woodward said. “I just felt like at that point, it is one of those unwritten rules that’s kind of right on that border. I thought it was on the other side of the border line.”
Woodward added that he understood why Tatis Jr. wanted to hit in that situation. He even said he always tells his own players to swing away in a 3-0 count, though he apparently would not instruct them to do so late in a blowout.
“I’m one of the biggest advocates of swinging 3-0,” Woodward said. “I tell our guys all the time, ‘I don’t want you taking 3-0.’ I don’t care who are are. It’s the best pitch to hit in baseball and that’s been proven.”
Unless Woodward can say he was willing to concede the game when the Rangers were trailing 10-3, he should have no issue with Tatis Jr. trying to put more runs on the board. It’s also hypocritical of him to complain after he allowed this nonsense last season. Teams have scored bunches of runs to come from behind countless times in the majors, which is why it’s a bad look for players and managers to complain about someone giving full effort even with a sizable lead.
