The Orioles and Red Sox were party to recent controversy when Boston reliever Matt Barnes came perilously close to hitting Manny Machado in the face with a fastball ...
This was in retaliation for Machado's hard slide into Dustin Pedroia two days before, but as we adjudicated in a relevant episode of Kangaroo Court, purpose pitches thrown at a batter's head aren't cool. Pedroia, for one, was of a similar opinion.
Also of a similar opinion? Hall of Famer and Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez. Well, he's in agreement when it comes to the location of the purpose pitch. Via Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, here's the money quote from Pedro ...
"I would react the same way except I would try to keep the ball lower. The ribs -- the ribs down. Butt cheek. Legs. But ribs. I aimed all the time to the ribcage -- boom! And I was a sharpshooter, too. You rarely saw me right over the head. It would be the ribs."
...
"I see baseball as a jungle. You kill to survive. (The Orioles) should have known, if you hurt one of my players...I'm glad I'm not pitching because I don't think I would've missed. I would have hit (Machado) square in the ribs. And if I didn't, I would try another one, too. That's how it used to be."
This is the reasonable stance. When retaliation is deemed appropriate, you don't risk seriously injuring the batter (or worse) by throwing at his head. You plant one in the middle of his body -- painful but almost certainly not approaching lethality.
Pedro knows whereof he speaks, of course. Despite having very good control for much of his career, he pegged 141 batters (plus another eight in 96 1/3 postseason innings) and once led the majors in HBPs. Presumably, a number of those pitches were authored with some degree of intent.
