Blue Jays right fielder and professional bat-flipper Jose Bautista got his ass kicked Sunday. After a late, dirty slide toward the knees of Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor, the pair squared off and Odor landed a right hook that wobbled Bautista and sent his sunglasses flying.
As if getting cracked by a smaller man after you initiated the fight isn’t embarrassing enough, now Bautista is having fellow Toronto athletes asking to fight his battles for him.
Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll, who is 6-foot-8, is ready to defend Bautista against the generously listed 5-foot-11 Odor if another fight breaks out, according to the Toronto Sun.
“If he really needs my help, I’m here,” Carroll said of Bautista.
This is just sad. Punched Bautista probably won’t replace Crying Jordan, but it should. Just about everyone has been punched in the face or lost a fight, but to have it happen in such spectacular public fashion is going to lead to so many unintentionally humorous things like this.
And don’t make this about the bat flip. Bautista tried to end Odor’s season by sliding through his knees, both men got angry about things and the smaller guy decked the bigger guy, who probably would have been hospitalized if not for Adrian Beltre pulling him from the fray like a boxing trainer who didn’t want to see his fighter killed.
Bautista is part of the “Make Baseball Fun Again” movement, and his willingness to take a punch shows his commitment level to fun.
(Toronto Sun) (h/t: The Score)
