What in the world is going on with Nationals center fielder Nyjer Morgan? In the last two weeks, he has been accused of throwing a baseball at a fan, clipping an opposing catcher on purpose, drilling another catcher on a borderline hit and being at the center of a brawl.
The spark plug who thrilled Nats fans last summer with top-notch defense and explosive baserunning is playing his way off the roster. Tony Plush has morphed into Tony Soprano.
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Morgan wasn’t completely at fault Wednesday. He took his medicine when the Marlins hit him in the hip to avenge catcher Brett Hayes’ separated left shoulder after Tuesday’s collision at home plate. But going after Morgan again for stealing second and third? If there is a code in baseball against that, it should be banished for stupidity. After all, the Nats trimmed that 11-run lead to five by the seventh inning.
But the simple fact is Morgan brought this on himself and put his teammates in a bad spot through the cumulative effect of his actions. He’s already waiting on an appeal of a seven-game suspension by Major League Baseball for allegedly throwing a ball at an unsuspecting fan in Philadelphia. And while a Philadelphia Inquirer story raised questions about that incident, MLB was convinced something happened. Even his own manager, Jim Riggleman, wouldn’t support Morgan for his hit on St. Louis catcher Bryan Anderson on Saturday and benched him for a game.
“[Morgan is] a tough, aggressive, intense little guy. The only way he can play in the major leagues is to play the way that he does,” ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian said Thursday on “SportsCenter.” “And yet in the last week or so he has gone completely over the line a couple of times. To start that fight as he basically did last night and then to walk off the field tearing his jersey open with his hands raised in the air like he’s just done something really triumphant, I’m just not buying that.”
