The very same day staff writer Zach Mason published his “Stop hitting Ty France” piece, Hector Neris and the Houston Astros decided they would do that very thing. The gall, the utter disrespect—how dare they expose themselves as non-LL readers?
Of course, it wasn’t just a whoopsie HBP because Ty likes to crowd the plate. No, this was a first pitch thrown behind France by Neris, who at that point had walked 4 batters all season (a data point Scott Servais was keen to throw in during his post-game presser).
I’m going to skip the rest of the fracas and red-assery because I’m sure someone else will do a much better job of breaking it all down than I can right now.