Jose Altuve Cannot Be For Real Here

Things got mildly spicy between the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros last night after Aaron Sanchez clipped Jose Altuve with a pitch. It was in no way intentional as the slugging second baseman led off the fifth inning in a 2-0 game with the Twins desperate to make the playoffs. This didn't stop Altuve from getting all hot and bothered, or the benches from emptying or a mound visit snafu expediting a Rocco Baldelli ejection.

So it wasn't intentional and it barely grazed his leg. We don't usually see players get this upset when two-seam fastballs run slightly more expected and touch the hem of a garment. So why was Altuve so fired up and why did he make a big show? Well, when you see just how far inside this pitch was, you can understand the righteous anger.

That must be 10 or even 11 inches off the inside corner. It's like three or four inches further inside than Altuve's lead foot, which is out of the batter's box.

No one likes the unwritten rules guy but here we go anyway. You are not allowed to pitch a fit if you get hit by a pitch while you standing closer to the plate than the rules allow. That's a hard and fast guideline we need to adhere to in order to maintain some sort of baseball society here. If we're not careful we could have a lawless sport where people run free breaking all sorts of rules in pursuit of a World Series without fear of punishment.