San Francisco Giants: Will There Be Bad Blood over the Buster Posey Injury ?

The San Francisco Giants play the Florida Marlins in a three-game series in South Florida beginning tonight marking the first series between these teams since Scott Cousins and Buster Posey were forever linked on that fateful play at the plate. 

Emotions were off the chart the following day when that series concluded, players and fans alike not really sure how to react. I think it is safe to say the San Francisco Giants' collective world was numb that day.

Once the Marlins left town and people came to grips with what had actually transpired, reaction ranged from anger and disgust to sorrow and depression. Giants fans could not believe the team had lost its young leader so suddenly and violently. Sports talk shows were alive with fans calling in demanding rule changes and poor Scott Cousins' head on a platter.

I'll admit emotions got the best of me and for a while I wanted retribution too, but when I thought about it, I realized my anger wasn't at Scott Cousins it was at the gaping hole in the middle of what was already a mediocre offense.

Expert baseball analysts poured over the video, breaking it down ad nauseam debating whether it was a dirty play or not. They talked about whether MLB should develop and implement new rules to protect the catcher.

I am and always will be a baseball purist, so I will forever be against any changes to the way the game has always been played. The bottom line is that baseball is a game that is played hard and there are risks to playing it. That's how it was 100 years ago and how it is today.

Giants fans don't want to hear this but if Posey had positioned his feet properly under his body he probably doesn't suffer the major injuries that he did. I'm not blaming Posey or Cousins for that matter, I'm pointing out that it is baseball and plays happen and bad things happen sometimes. 

Did Scott Cousins have to lower his shoulder and plow into Posey at full speed? No, he had a "lane" but where does it say that he has to take that lane? Nowhere, except maybe in the baseball book of “unwritten rules.”

Now that everyone has calmed down and Brian Sabean apologized for his inappropriate comments about Scott Cousins, I think it is safe to say that most fans would agree that it was a clean baseball play that tragically ended a budding superstar’s season. I think that most fans would agree that it is over and they have moved on, but have the players?

I don't fully understand the unwritten rules of baseball; they intrigue me on many levels though.  Scott Cousins is on the 60 Day DL, so he won't be playing in this series and that could very well be a good thing for him. 

Even though most baseball people and baseball players would agree that it was a clean baseball play, the unwritten rules may state that Cousins should have a fastball buried in his ribs, not for the play itself but to show Buster Posey support. I don't get it, but then again, I've never strapped on the spikes.

I really don't know if another one of the Marlin players will have to take Scott Cousins' medicine for him this weekend, I would tend to believe that they won't. I don't think the Giants are in a position to risk injuries or suspensions by setting off a bean-ball war. Perhaps the Marlins have taken umbrage with the vitriol that came out of San Francisco following "The Collision" and will partake in some payback of their own to show Scott Cousins some support.

It should be an interesting series, one the Giants have to remain focused during and win some baseball games.