San Francisco Giants Sparked by Puig’s Antics

Once again the San Francisco Giants rallied late to beat the San Francisco Giants in a game that included a brawl between Nick Hundley and Yasiel Puig.

The rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers is real, and it was rekindled in Tuesday nights brawl.

It’s no secret that the Giants, and most around baseball, don’t care for Yasiel Puig and his antics. While he has matured some over the years, which I think is mostly because of a lack of production/spotlight, he still shows himself at times.

On Monday night you could tell there were pent-up frustrations between him and Madison Bumgarner. The big lefty stared him down after every at-bat throughout the game, waiting on him to do something stupid.

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That carried over into Tuesday’s game when Hundley apparently had enough when Puig showed frustration after missing a pitch from Tony Watson.

Anyone who thinks Hundley’s reaction was based solely on what Puig did after that pitch is mistaken. This is a culmination of things that Puig has done throughout his career when playing against the Giants, and they are just fed up with his childish behavior and the way he disrespects the game.

While Hundley certainly is to blame for starting the confrontation, Puig is the one who escalated it by throwing several punches/shoves/slaps. I can understand why both were thrown out of the game, but Puig is the only one who deserves a suspension here.

Part of the frustration from Puig and the Dodgers and that they have let this division start to slip out of their hands when everyone thought they were about to become the best team in the National League after acquiring Manny Machado and Brian Dozier at the trade deadline.

All of that, coupled with the fact that their rival has beaten them in the ninth in back-to-back games, helped fuel Tuesday’s brawl.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants are being fueled by these two wins and have made themselves and fans believe again that this team can win.

While I’m still not sure myself that this is a playoff team, it certainly makes things interesting down the stretch. If this doesn’t spark the Giants to go out and compete the rest of the way, then I don’t know what will.