SAN FRANCISCO — Dalton Rushing was in the middle of an emotionally charged scene Thursday, which came as no surprise to his manager.
“I think that’s inevitable,” the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts said with a chuckle.
Inevitable because of Rushing’s oversized personality.
If Shohei Ohtani is the face of the Dodgers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the arm,Rushing is the attitude.
The second-year catcher projects the confidence of a player who knows he will be a star. By baseball’s current standards, he has a minimal filter. He’s intense — and, from an opponent’s perspective, almost certainly obnoxious.
The only reason he doesn’t find himself in conflict more often is because he’s still a part-time player.
In a futile effort to think of a similar character in recent years, I made a reference to legendary bad boy Yasiel Puig, which elicited a playful retort from Roberts.
The Giants became the latest team to be triggered by 25-year-old Rushing, which explains why their starting pitcher drilled him in the ribs in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory Thursday at Oracle Park.
Two nights earlier, Rushing tagged out Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee at home. Lee was slow to get up on the play, and Rushing was shown on camera mouthing something as he returned to the Dodgers’ bench. The consensus on the internet was thatRushing said, “f— ’em,”which Rushing later denied.
With Dodgers’ Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim serving as a middle man, Rushing spoke to Lee to clear up any possible misunderstanding.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
