In the bottom half of the very bizarre seventh inning during Game 5 of the Rangers-Blue Jays ALDS, Jose Bautista launched a go-ahead, three-run homer that is still ascending to outer space. Bautista’s home run in a very emotionally charged inning inspired him to execute the greatest bat flip in playoff history, as seen above. Most people loved it; Sam Dyson, the Rangers pitcher who gave up the home run to Bautista, was not a fan.
During the postgame interview, Dyson gave some Victorian era quotes about unwritten rules.
Sam Dyson on The Flip: (1/2): “Jose needs to calm that down, just kind of respect the game a little more. He’s a huge role model for …"
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
Dyson (2/3): "the younger generation that’s coming up playing this game, and I mean he’s doing stuff that kids do in Wiffle ball games …
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
Dyson (3/3): " … and backyard baseball. It shouldn’t be done.”
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
Before Dyson gave up the blast, the Rangers defense gave up three-consecutive errors, which has never been done in a playoff game before. If Dyson wants someone to respect the game, he should peek behind him and wave at Elvis Andrus. Furthermore, kids throw their bats in wiffle ball games, because kids know that baseball is a game meant for fun. But Cole Hamels wants players to be stoic professionals after hitting the biggest home run of their life.
Cole Hamels: "It's hard to be politically correct. It's tough to see. A lot of us on our team don't carry ourselves that way."
— Jeff Wilson (@JeffWilsonTXR) October 15, 2015
It’s tough for Hamels, who pitched well in a huge playoff game, giving up two earned runs and striking out eight over 6 1/3 innings.
That seventh inning is about as emotionally charged as a sports environment gets. Let the Blue Jays have their moment to celebrate. And Toronto certainly did:
Ryan Goins on the flip: On a scale of 1-10, that’s a 27.
Russell Martin, catcher: Unbelievable. I want to hug him forever.
Marcus Stroman, pitcher: Watching that, my whole body went numb. That was the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of.
And the man himself provided possibly the best answer of all:
Here's @JoeyBats19 dropping the greatest one word answer OF ALL TIME pic.twitter.com/IAD4qNEGqO
— jesse spector (@jessespector) October 15, 2015