MASN: Riggleman, Rizzo defend Morgan

A regular Morgan the Escapist!

While Rizzo allowed that some of Morgan’s “mistakes” were “disconcerting,” and called him a “young and aggressive player who should have known better,” he said he had little to no problem with most of what Morgan did. That list includes running into Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson last Saturday, railroading Marlins catcher Brett Hayes on Tuesday night and then jawing with fans about it, and charging the mound and punching Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad on Wednesday.

Rizzo said Morgan has been frustrated with his slow start to the year, but praised the outfielder’s improvement in the second half of the season. That improvement has been modest, statistically - Morgan is hitting .270 after the All-Star break, compared to .252 before it - but Rizzo said it’s too early to give up on the 30-year-old, stressing that he’s young in his career because of his late start in baseball after his hockey career.

And Riggleman said he thought the suspensions levied on Friday - Morgan’s eight-game punishment, Doug Slaten’s three-game suspension and a pair of games each for third-base coach Pat Listach and himself - were “a little bit heavy.