Jose Fernandez exited his stellar rookie campaign last evening with a bang, pitching seven strong innings (7 K's, 5 Hits, 1 ER) to earn the Win against the division leading Atlanta Braves. Fernandez also launched the first home run of his career off Mike Minor and in the process, managed to clear both benches for a little Southern Flare.
Heres a video of last night's altercation:
The video does show Fernandez taking a long stare and giving his bat a nice little flip as soon as he hit the home run, but in all honesty, I think this was a direct retaliation to Evan Gattis' long home run stare off Fernandez in the sixth inning.
One can even argue that Jose Fernandez was fired up by Atlanta 3B Chris Johnson, who appeared to be trash talking him prior to his at-bat.
You can point fingers all you want and say Jose Fernandez was acting like a kid, but at 21 years old, that's exactly what he is.
Either way, when Fernandez made his way to home plate, McCann began jawing at him. As home plate official Sam Holbrook stepped in to separate the two players, the 'meat headed' Chris Johnson came charging at Fernandez, escalating the whole situation into a frenzy and ultimately leading to both benches clearing.
My one question to the tough Chris Johnson is why in the world would you hide behind the umpire sir? First you talk trash after being put out the inning before, than you chirp Fernandez rounding third base, and than charge into the situation screaming your face off only to courageously hide behind Brian McCann and the umpire? .... Real tough.
Though both benches and the bullpens emptied, there appeared to be plenty of shouting and shoving but to everyones avail, no punches were thrown.
Assuming that this was indeed Jose Fernandez's last game (due to his innings limit), he has certainly made a strong case for N.L. Rookie of the Year... hell, he may even be in the running for N.L. Cy Young.
Fernandez finished the year at 12-6 with 187 K's, an ERA of 2.19 (second to Clayton Kerkshaw), and an outstanding WHIP of 0.98.
The Marlins have a very bright spot in their organization in Jose Fernandez. It'll be interesting to see what he does in 2014 when he's given a full season.
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