The Blue Jays are losing games again. Players are losing their cool again. Following Wednesday’s third consecutive loss to the lowly Braves, Jays’ intense centre fielder Kevin Pillar found himself embroiled in a controversy of his own making, yelling a homophobic slur that was easily picked up by the centre-field camera at SunTrust Park. Pillar apologized for losing his temper in the moments after the game, but it is a lapse of judgment that deserves some form of punishment from the Jays and MLB.After striking out to end the inning against veteran Braves reliever Jason Motte — who clearly quick-pitched him on a two-strike count, perfectly legal with nobody on base, as long as the batter is ready in the box — a pissed off Pillar flipped his bat and could clearly be seen yelling a far-too-common homophobic slur towards Motte. Read more:Jays’ Kevin Pillar appears to yell homophobic slur at Braves pitcherBraves pound Biagini early, take third straight from JaysInjuries could create opportunity for Jays’ Darrell CecilianiThe unexpected, uncalled for Pillar reaction caused catcher Kurt Suzuki and the pitcher, who was walking off the mound, to immediately react, along with home plate umpire Brian O’Nora who stepped in between Suzuki and Pillar. Both dugouts and bullpens emptied, but order was restored without a punch being thrown.No excuse. There is an expectation in the macho, macho world of professional sports that it’s an insult to the game for a pitcher to try and trick an opponent rather than staging a chest-thumping mano-a-mano beat-down. But it’s a team sport and the bottom line is that Motte did everything he could to win. Motte was one of the top relievers in 2011-12, missed the ’13 season due to surgery and now is just trying to get hitters out any way that he can. In this situation, he had looked in for the sign, moved towards taking the stretch position, but quickly slid right through it, ...
|
