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Massarotti: Can We Stop The Stupidity?

By Tony Massarotti, 98.5 The Sports Hub

BOSTON (CBS) -- Amid the debris on the field, the confusion by the umpires, the protestations of the managers and the intense, riveting drama, here's what drew the attention of some on the field in Toronto on Wednesday evening: a bat flip. A freaking bat flip. And the meaning of it.

Can we stop with this stupidity?

Earth to Sam Dyson, the reliever who thought Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista disrespected the game (and, hence, Dyson) by flipping his bat in the bottom of the seventh inning on Wednesday: it's the playoffs. It was Game 5. The score was tied and the season – for both teams – was on the line. Bautista hit the most dramatic home run in Toronto in 23 years – Joe Carter, Game 6 of the 1993 World Series – and apparently he was supposed to treat it like batting practice during spring training.

"I told him that Jose needs to calm that down, respect the game more," Dyson told reporters after Wednesday's decisive Game 5, revealing details of a conversation he had with Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion that prompted benches to empty. "It needs to stop. He's a huge role model for the younger generation that's coming up playing this game, and he's doing stuff that kids do in Wiffle ball games and backyard baseball. It shouldn't be done. That's unacceptable, regardless of what level you're on."

Even in the playoffs?

And according to whom?

Obviously, this is about intent. If Bautista was intending to show up Dyson, carrying out some personal vendetta, then fine. But he wasn't. Bautista said as much after the game. Dyson had no way of knowing that at the time, of course, but he nonetheless interpreted Bautista's actions as some sign of disrespect, even in the middle of an emotionally-charged elimination game. At best, Dyson misread the situation. At worst, he was he was acting as a protector of the game, which seems like an awfully big jump for a 27-year-old middle reliever with his third organization in a four-year career.

The truth is that Sam Dyson joined a list of Rangers (including Elvis Andrus, Mitch Moreland and Rougned Odor) who just blew Game 5 of the Division Series. Andrus (two or three times), Odor and Moreland all made fielding misplays and Dyson gave up a three-run bomb. And amid it all, Dyson decided to blame Bautista, who was arguably the game's biggest heroes.

Lame. Lame, lame, lame. Weak and pathetic.

Maybe Dyson should have merely done what Andrus did, which is to take responsibility only for his actions, his mistakes, effectively apologizing to his team and city. Andrus acted like an adult. Dyson acted like a child.

Here's another thing: Dyson was born in Tampa, Bautista in the Dominican Republic. This is no small thing. If you've read this recent story in USA Today or ever watched this narrative by Chris Rock, you know that baseball is an ongoing clash of cultures. This is why most (all?) teams have some type of policy limiting or forbidding music in the clubhouse, because there is a long list of teammates who have fought at the clubhouse stereo debating the benefits of country versus salsa.

Last night, for example, Daniel Murphy gave his bat a little flip after breaking a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning of the New York Mets' 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The opposing pitcher was Zack Greinke, who is also American. Nobody got ticked off, Draw your own conclusions.

For those of us out there who regard baseball as America's game, it's time to wake up. It's not. It hasn't been for a long time. One of former commissioner Bud Selig's goal was to take the game global, to start the World Baseball Classic, to extend baseball's reaches to other markets and cultures. That requires an acceptance of stylistic changes and tweaks. People like Sam Dyson need to stop policing the game and start playing it with more passion, something baseball lacks relative to the other major sports.

There's a difference, after all, between celebrating and showing someone up.

Bautista was celebrating.

Stop taking it so personally, Sam.

Tony Massarotti co-hosts the Felger and Massarotti Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub weekdays from 2-6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @TonyMassarotti. You can read more from Tony by clicking here.

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