Chapman v Swisher: Intentional or Not?

No way….and here is why.

First things first, no matter what side you fall on, take a step back and look at it strictly from a baseball perspective. The Reds are in a heated race in the NL Central, currently 1.5 games back of the Cardinals. They hold a 2 run lead with 1 out in the 9^th. Chapman has had problems recently when closing games. With all that in mind, why would he (or the Reds) try and hit Swisher and risk bringing the tying run to the plate? Especially when the tying run is batting .285 (.300 against lefties) and has 8 HRs. It does not make baseball sense.

Second, Chapman has had control issues in the past. In fact, that is not the first ball he has had sail to the backstop. I have no question the first pitch was nothing but a pitch that slipped. The second pitch however, may have had a purpose. Watch it again. After the first pitch, Swisher stares at Chapman; it looks like Chapman took exception to the stare. I believe the second pitch was in response to the stare - Chapman essentially telling Swisher the first one was a mistake, but if you think I was throwing at you, I will show you what a brush back would look like. Was it smart? No. Was Chapman trying to hit Swisher? No. Even Swisher’s teammate Jason Giambi (yes he is still alive and playing baseball) doesn’t believe it was intentional. Despite a history of control problems, if Chapman wanted to hit Swisher, he would have hit him.

Lastly, there is no history of bad blood between Chapman and Swisher (in fact I think that was the first time they faced each other) nor the teams themselves. It was simply a case of poor control at 100mph and some over reacting (especially from the Indians announcer Tom Hamilton – who sounds like a jackass on the broadcast – one would think a 24 year old veteran of the booth would know the game and situation a bit better).