re: NL Wild Card Playoff - CHC 4 @ PIT 0 F | #flythe[ W ]

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they had 4 regular season games to retaliate for Kang, and never did

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i suppose there's a line of logic around not retaliating during the regular season and risking suspension, w/ the slimmest of hopes of chasing down the Cardinals for the division and avoiding the WC game. W/ the game more or less out of reach and frustration at its peak, i suppose they just said F it, and hit him in the butt. Cutch used Kang's walk up music last night, so i have to think it was on their minds. Hell, i'm just a fan and i picked up on it.

i certainly don't think there's was intent to destroy Kang's knee, but certainly to make hard contact and if an injury occurred that's just "playing hard". you're asking an awful lot of the Pirates to see their second best hitter, and really a guy that people have embraced fully, go down like that and say it's all good. Especially when the hole he left offensively was evident down the stretch, and the dude makes his first public appearance since the injury in a wheelchair during the pre-game introductions.

ETA: the Joe Maddon plantar fasciitis comment after the game really apparently angered the team mgmt -- seemingly making light of an obviously bad injury.