Madison Bumgarner And Yasiel Puig Are Making Their Long-Distance Hatred For One Another Still Work

It hasn’t been easy for Madison Bumgarner and Yasiel Puig to continue hating each other as fiercely as they once did now that Puig has moved away to the Midwest. The former in-state proximity between the two players allowed them to share an angry bond built on bat-flipping and batter-beaning. With Puig in Cincinnati, it wasn’t clear if they were going to be able to keep that intensity going. But on Sunday, the two showed that there were still was some sparks left in their feuding relationship.

It started on Puig’s end in the top of the sixth inning. With nobody on and nobody out, Puig smoked a 92-mph fastball from Bumgarner into the left-field seats. Knowing what he had just done, the Red decided to take some time to admire that handiwork on his long-time nemesis and threw his bat once he got done looking at the dinger.

For those of you who like a good feud….

Yasiel Puig turns brawl picture into work of art with excellent custom shirt

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Yasiel Puig used to be known as the “Wild Horse” with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It didn’t take him long to find a new persona with the Reds.

After seemingly taking on the entire Pittsburgh Pirates team in a brawl in early April, Puig might be angling to be known as “El Guerrero Rojo,” or The Red Warrior, from now on.

How do we know this? Puig sent a pretty clear message with this excellent, custom shirt.

Some people run from their reputations, and others try to pretend that they don’t exist- Puig, on the other hand, chooses to lean right into it…

Yasiel Puig’s ‘complicated legacy’ in Los Angeles

Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times has written the story I think everyone knew was going to come out sooner or later: the “now that Yasiel Puig is gone, what did the Dodgers really think of him?” story. And you know what? It’s a good, even-handed story and not the hit job that other, say, more senior columnist types at the Times might have done if they were given the assignment. Thank goodness.

Unlike a lot of past coverage which has sought to cast Puig as some malevolent force in the Dodgers clubhouse, the picture that comes away from this story is that Puig was more of a frustration than a team cancer. Indeed, Dodgers people — players, coaches and managers — generally liked Puig and still like him. They knew and accepted that he is just wired differently than most players, and understood, more or less, why he was wired differently. But they were quite often frustrated by him. Less frustrated on a personal basis than frustrated by his failure to take full advantage of his potential. His failure to take coaching advice, particularly when it comes to defense. His stubbornness and belief in his physical skills and resistance to playing smarter rather than simply playing harder which, on some level, doesn’t always cut it.

LEADING OFF: Red Sox get rings, Puig gets new nickname

A look at what’s happening around the majors today:

BOSTON BASH

The Red Sox are set to receive their 2018 World Series rings ahead of their home opener at Fenway Park. Boston plans to unveil a championship banner, and ceremonies will include a flyover by four F-16 jets prior to the first pitch. The club will sport gold-trimmed hats and jerseys, as well. One member of last year’s team who won’t attend is Craig Kimbrel. The All-Star closer and current free agent declined an invitation.

The 2019 season hasn’t been quite so sparkling. Boston returns from a season-opening West Coast swing 3-8, and the starting pitching has been especially suspect. Chris Sale (0-2, 8.00 ERA) faces Toronto in the home opener. His fastball has averaged 90.7 mph over his first two outings, down from 95.4 mph last season.

Just one story of several here, for your dining and dancing pleasure.

Yasiel Puig Tried To Fight All Of Pittsburgh After Pirates Pitcher Chris Archer Threw Behind Derek Dietrich

Having been traded to an entirely new division in the offseason, Yasiel Puig needed to find a new rival to brawl with now that the trips to San Francisco would be far and few between. Luckily for him, the Pittsburgh Pirates gave him an excuse on Sunday to throw hands against what seemed like the entire roster.

The brawl kicked off in the top of the fourth when Pirates pitcher Chris Archer intentionally threw behind Cincinnati’s Derek Dietrich. Dietrich’s crime? Staring at a home run he hit in the top of the second a little too long for Archer’s liking.

Rather than using the experience to realize he should throw fewer bad pitches, Archer retaliated the only way an overly sensitive pitcher knew how and forced both benches to clear.

Yasiel Puig: Fighting Round The World!

Bill Plaschke is very, very happy that Yasiel Puig is gone

When Yasiel Puig was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Cincinnati Reds, one of the first people I thought of was Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke. I didn’t just think, though. I worried. I worried what Plaschke would do now that he was being deprived of one of his favorite punching bags.

And make no mistake: Plaschke hated Puig. Hated him with the heat of a thousand suns. He hated him so much that he became unhinged at times.

We’ve chronicled it before. He hated Puig’s bat flips and swagger. He hit him way, way harder for base running mistakes and missing the cutoff man than he’d ever hit anyone else, attributing such things to Puig’s inherent lack of character. When an opposing pitcher got crappy and chippy with Puig, it was somehow Puig’s fault (of course when other players do it, it’s fine). And no, Puig’s horrible, destructive nature was not limited to what he did on the baseball field. According to Plaschke Puig’s own personal history put Dodgers fans’ lives at risk.

Sincere question, for those who know:

How, in this world where the press (and, increasingly, not just the printed press, either) is in such a terrible shape, has Plaschke not ended up dancing for nickles under the pier?

The Tao of Yasiel Puig: The Reds’ New Star Riffs on Bat Flips, Life and His Rocky End With the Dodgers

Some key lines:

Yet the Yasiel Puig Story, as full of fun as it’s been, remains frustratingly incomplete. He’s struggled to match the hype of his thrilling 2013 arrival that launched him into superstardom. He’s clashed repeatedly with managers, coaches and teammates over the years and earned scorn—often unfairly, sometimes deservedly—over his behavior on and off the field. His time in Los Angeles featured six straight division titles and back-to-back trips to the World Series in 2017 and ‘18, yet a championship eluded both him and a team that hasn’t captured one since two years before he was born. “It’s nice, but we haven’t won,” the 28-year-old Puig says in Spanish of his frequent trips to the postseason. “The only thing we’re getting is one more month instead of being on vacation. It’s as if you did nothing.” And for as much as he loves Los Angeles, he’s bitter about parting with his old team.

“It’s their problem,” Puig says of the Dodgers’ decision to move him. “I don’t know what they did with that trade, because they didn’t get anyone who could help them the way I could. But that’s business.”

With that business comes the closing of one chapter and the beginning of the next. But as Puig sheds blue for red and, to paraphrase Bill Belichick, moves on to Cincinnati, can he stay and grow in baseball’s spotlight as he leaves Los Angeles behind?

Kremlinologists among us, do you care to interpret these remarks?

Yasiel Puig admits he ‘never worked hard’ in L.A, vows to up effort in contract year with Reds

Shield your eyes, Los Angeles Dodgers fans.

Actually, take a long look. Because this is funny.

Yasiel Puig admitted to ESPN recently what was evident to most who were paying attention to the Dodgers in recent years.

He didn’t work hard in Los Angeles.

Fine by me- but, then again, I’m a Giants fan…..

Puig leaves LA, warms to wintery new home with Reds

Yasiel Puig boarded a jet in Los Angeles, flew all night and arrived in his new home just before sunrise. The temperature was still falling toward zero, and the wind chill was enough to cause frostbite in a few minutes.

That first blast of cold as he left the plane was another reminder: You’re not in LA anymore, Yasiel.

The former Dodgers outfielder who was part of a seven-player deal with Cincinnati in December decided to explore his new town Wednesday. He did just about every Cincinnati thing that a visitor could do on a below-freezing day.

Not sure what Puig should worry about more in Cincinnati- the weather, or the fans….