Orioles’ Davis should heed a 7th grade P.E. teacher’s words

Ryan Flaherty hits a solo home run in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards Wednesday night. Photo: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Two points made an impression on me during tonight’s game, both negatively.

In the third inning, Texas scored three runs to take a 4-1 lead, with two runs coming on a double by Adrian Beltre that went by Chris Davis down the right field line. Then Leonys Martin singled in Beltre with the Rangers’ third run of the inning. The next thing I knew, the camera caught Davis having a very pleasant chat with Martin, whom he was holding at first base. The two were teammates with the Rangers prior to the trade that brought Davis and Tommy Hunter to the Baltimore Orioles in 2011.

Having been teammates should not be a reason a player would catch up with an old friend, if he had just knocked in a run, and his team just scored three runs to take a lead. We can’t know what was said. Maybe Davis told Martin a joke about the fact that he had robbed Nelson Cruz of a homer in the first inning.

I’m not suggesting Davis should hate his competitor for any reason, although some players do exactly that unabashedly. But I don’t think it’s old fashioned to say that wasn’t the time or the place for a friendly chat.

During the competition, he is not your friend, particularly not if he just drove in a run. Believe it or not, hotly

Players of the past are not the only people famous for refusing to get buddy-buddy with the opposition

competitive professional athletes, such as the

s and

s of the past, are not the only people famous for refusing to get buddy-buddy with the opposition. A junior high school Physical Education teacher of mine told that to the class during a wrestling instructional lesson. I agreed with it when Robinson and Gibson were known for it, I agreed with my P.E. teacher (not just because he was the teacher), and I agree with it now.

The sentiment stands even though Davis’ walk set up J.J. Hardy‘s game-tying single in the 6th inning. All was well that ended well, as the Orioles went on to survive a 1 hour, 38 minute rain delay and win. Ryan Flaherty had a solid night at third base in addition to leading off the bottom of the seventh inning with a home run that put the Orioles ahead to stay.

The other item that made an impression on me occurred when the umpires called catcher’s interference on an obvious foul ball by Elvis Andrus, and did not reverse the call despite conferencing for several minutes on whether the bat hit touched Caleb Joseph‘s mitt.

A friend of mine pointed out that Orioles announcer Joe Angel had said if 50 percent of all calls are overturned by replay, apparently the umpires were not right 99 percent of the time, as most people normally give them credit for.