A young child may have been scarred for life last night after his father, who was in perfect position to catch a foul ball, didn’t yield to the advances of mountain man Jayson Werth as he also attempted to catch the fly. Except, you know, if Jayson Werth caught the ball it’d end up as an out instead of a memento on top of the fireplace. Unfortunately for the Phillies and the virgin ears of the foul ball catcher’s kid, the dad caught the ball and Werth unleashed a string of cuss words that would’ve sent him straight to the principal’s office. At least Werth can claim he was just trying to expand the young boy’s vocabulary.
Is it okay for outfielders to flip out on fans who interfere on foul balls that would’ve helped the home team? Probably not, unless that foul ball was of monumental importance like the old Steve Bartman-Moises Alou playoff incident of 2003. Werth, who’s been mired in a two week slump, probably just made that kid lose all respect for his father over a measly out in a game the Phillies ended up winning anyway. You see the look on the son’s face!? It’s like he just saw the family dog get run over by a freight train! If I were the father I’d wait until Werth was done unleashing his stream of F-bombs and then politely ask if he’d like the ball back. Or pegged him in the face with it. WHO’S THE BIGGER MAN NOW?!
Video After the Jump
H/T dhm
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Never fuck with a guy that looks like Edge…or you will be speared into submission.
Awe c’mon, that’s fan interference. The Phillies are 6 games out of first, 3 out of the wild card, and that would have been the third out in the top of the 12th inning. Instead of the Phillies getting back to bat in a tie game, Drew Stubbs got another chance to hit a HR.
Also, Werth’s ‘string of expletives’ looks like it lasted about 2 words. He appears to mouth the words “Get out of my f*cking way!” Living in Philly, I suspect that kid has already heard far worse.
I guess what I’m saying is, I’m on Team Werth.
I’ve got this great story about how I drank from a water fountain in Sears a few years ago. Maybe I should post about it.
@AlFromBrooklyn: Oh don’t get me wrong I’m a fan of Jayson and his outburst was purely frustration that just exploded out of him, but the play happened so quickly the father really didn’t have any chance to look over to see if Jayson Werth was going to be able to catch it. The attempted catch by the dad was basically self defense.
Werth reached into the stands to get it – the stands are the fans’ domain. The fan did not interfere with Werth since he did not reach into the field of play for the ball. Werth reached into the stands for it. That said, fans of the home team should try to give every chance for their own players to make a play (even in the stands), and should also make every effort to block visiting players from making a play in the stands on the home team’s own players.
Being a Braves fan, Werth was probably just pissed that he had to live and play in ‘Philly. (And for those that really care, I was born in Philly)…
If the guy did that during a playoff game he and his son would’ve been stabbed to death in the parking lot afterwards.
“Get out of my f*cking way!” is often shouted at bombings. That’s why this qualifies as “terrorizing” the father & son.
Skeeter has nailed it
So your the one braves fan skeeter?
I think this was an unfortunate situation for Werth, the father and his son.
Here we are in extra innings. The Phillies desperately needing to get this series off to a good start. Werth is frustrated by his lack of performance at the plate and inability to contribute any sort of offense for the past month. In fact, he’s been a complete liability at the plate lately. And now he goes out to make a play in extra innings and it’s foiled by a fan.
On the other hand, lets face it how many times have we seen MLB outfielders misjudge where they were, run into a wall, each other, or miss the ball completely. Yet we expect this father sitting in the stands with his son to have the presence of mind to know where Jayson Werth is and make a call as to whether or not he can reach that ball. I felt bad for the guy because you could obviously see he was embarrassed in front of his son after getting cussed out by someone who might be one of the kids heros.
And then there’s the poor son who looked terrified at watching his father get cussed out, humiliated and shameful. If I were that kid I’d never want to go back to another baseball game again. And if I did, I’d request a seat in the nose-bleed section.
Hard call either way. I do think Jayson Werth should apologize if for nothing else than for scaring the crap out of that kid.
Jayson was wrong. The fan had as much right to the ball. He didn’t “reach over”. Needs to apologize. And get a shave and a haircut. Gonna need them when he is in pinstripes. Yo, Jayson, call for it next time.
What is lost in all of this is what an amazing catch the dad made. Jose Canseco got to wear a glove and he still wouldn’t have come down with it.
Any baseball fan should A – know that was absolutely a playable ball for Werth and B – NOT cost the home team an out in the top of the 12th inning of a game. Werth didn’t know the Phils were going to win, so of course he’s justified in being angry. The fan was IN HIS WAY.
And as a Philly sports fan, you really need to know better. I promise you, that kid heard a lot worse from the fans around them.
At least he didnt throw up on the guy
Fuck Jayson Werth. If he can’t get to the ball before some fan does then it’s his fucking fault. I wouldn’t mind if he got “injured” (bruised vagina?) like the rest of that shitty team.
Fuck Jayson Werth, any Phillies fan knows he wouldn’t have caught that ball anyway, it would have bounced off him and rolled away for a triple AT LEAST. He’s been a brooding little girl all season because of his contract and I’m tired of it, just send him packing somewhere else and bring up the kid already.
“Terrorize”…god, the drama…really? Need ratings for ads or what?
@Freshone: Hyperbole, jackass.
A: If a ball is flying at my kid at 80-100 miles an hour, I am probably gonna step in and catch it or knock it away too, not just step out of the way and hope some other guy comes running over from 50 feet away to lead over a wall and make a spectacular play to save my son.
B: Werth didn’t really seem to go off on the guy to any unnecessary degree.
C: Phillies suck.
“Scarred for life”?!! Oh, please –let’s grow up, shall we? “Virgin ears”?! Have you ever heard how kids his age talk on the playground? They do plenty of “terrorizing” of each other … not to mention their teachers. Spare me the self-righteous platitudes, OK?
Werth never called him off. “I got it!!!”
Werth is a pantywaste. Guy was protecting his kid, and Werthless probably would have phucked it up any way and not gotten it. I hope they trade his sorry ass.
Most of the commentors on this story are obviously NOT Phillies fans. It was a playable ball; the father got in the way; if he had cost Philly the game he woulda had to leave under armed police escort…not to mention his name being mud throughout the city for the rest of his life.
As for the kid: if hearing the word ‘fuck’ scars a kid for life, he’s a damn wussie any way and needs a good manly roughing up!
Werth will get his groove back…
Werth’s RF defense does not lack in any way, please check the stats. You’ll find he’s a far better than avg RF’er. The fielding errors made by the Phillies this yr have been in LF (Ibanez – shock) & the infield (Utley & his replacements & Polonco’s replacements). His arm is amazing and far better than Victorino’s (please revisit some of his lame throws during the Reds games). As for this incident, it was a brief, quick, “crash”. For writers and/or the public to make more of it than that is ridiculous. The Green-Dad deliberately paid for seats placed where they can catch foul balls. Shocked by a foul ball coming his way? Nonsense. As for “protecting his son”, that’s a convenient & sweet ‘out’. I’m sure he didn’t want his son to be hit by a ball – I’m not saying he did. But his first thought was to CATCH THE BALL, which btw, he did. Nice catch. He & his looked upset after the catch b/c the crowd booed him. As far as the rules of play, any ball “reachable by a player” is permitted to be caught. If it’s YOUR TEAM – get out of the way. If it’s the opposing team, then you get in the way as much as possible. That’s baseball. Werth was (happily) playing with emotion (game tied & in extra innings), but that also would’ve been the final out. You telling me Green-Dad didn’t know this too? Come on. A play prior to that Werth made an extraordinary catch & was on a roll in the OF. Why should players be held to higher standards – b/c fans think of them as heros? That’s our prob not theirs. They’re human. They just happen to be better at baseball. It happened so fast neither adult had time to think or evaluate. I doubt Werth knew the kid was there until afterward. I doubt Green-Dad thought of much other than catching the foul. Werth has a small son of his own. I’m sure he’d take the 4-letter word back, but that kid is hearing worse at school (and heard just as bad around him at the game). “Scarring” – hardly. Everyone forget it and move on.