In today’s world, we all have to find someone who is at fault. We divide ourselves into “us” and “them” categories. We point fingers, denigrate others to make ourselves look better, and dismiss other opinions. I catch myself doing it. I did it the other night when that ball was hit back to Orion Kerkering and he made a wild throw home rather than to first. My honest response was: “What the F*** did he just do?”

Then, I watched as one Phillies player or coach came up to Kerkering, put an arm around him, patted him on the back and spoke to him in a consoling way. If these guys, who had a lot more invested in that play than I did are showing grace to a teammate, why am I sitting here with my finger pointing at this 24-year-old kid?

I realized that what he did was make a mistake. He panicked. It happens. The more I thought about it the more I thought about when I was 24 and some of the really dumb things that I did. Most were dumber than throwing the ball to home rather than to first.

One player after another talked about how it shouldn’t define his career and that stuff like that happens. I went online and saw the vitriol that people were throwing around and it really started to bother me. As much as we love baseball – one of my favorite lines is “Baseball is life, the rest is just details” – it’s a game. It gives us months of enjoyment and of the teams that are good enough to reach the postseason, only one team finishes their season with a win. Now, we have an offseason of rumors, potential moves, and analysis of real moves. Before we know it, the players reconvene for Spring Training and we’re back at it.

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW PHILADELPHIA SPORTS TRIVIA?

If you have kids, perhaps that play by Kerkering can be used as a teachable moment. How his teammates and coaches reacted. Nick Castellanos sprinting in from right field to console Kerkering. Rob Thomson waiting at the dugout steps to grab him and whisper encouragement in his ear. At that moment, the words were probably lost on Kerkering, but I can imagine that since then there have been calls and texts to Kerkering and the initial words have started to sink in. We can teach kids – and maybe ourselves – that “stuff” happens and it doesn’t lessen the value of that person or your relationship with them. As one player after another said in the postgame interviews, “We win together, we lose together.”

We can also learn from Orion Kerkering standing up in front of a bunch of video cameras, photographers, and media types and answering all of their questions. Owning up to the mistake; accepting responsibility. One night earlier Jazz Chisholm of the Yankees, an older and more experienced player, literally turned his back on the media and refused to be photographed or to answer any questions when he had made a blunder. Which person do you want to be? Which one do you want your kids to be the next time they mess up?

Since that night, there are still folks on social media and in public, who are bashing Kerkering. Calling for him to be traded. Calling for him to simply be released. Then, there are others; others who get it. Who realize that the world didn’t end because of that play. Nobody died because of that play. Many of those people are former players. Some speak of their short comings or those of teammates and how they forgave them. Many are now Kerkering fans and want to see him bounce back and go on to better days.

Former pitcher and current FOX analyst Adam Wainwright was one of the former players who spoke out on “X” regarding the incident. His post was on the long side, but well worth reading.

Here is a part of what Wainwright had to say: Sometimes we think so much about outcomes and performances that we forget that these are just people. With real emotions.

Our world has gotten tougher; not in a good way. We can’t forgive mistakes. Someone has to pay when something goes wrong. Whether it’s politics, work, or sports, the blame never goes to us or someone we like. Instead, it goes to the “other guys” who we have to drag down or else we look bad.

Forget the fact that by losing the first two games of the series the Phillies put themselves into a situation that invites panic. Forget the fact that the offense hit just .213 in the NLDS. Forget the fact that Jhoan Duran, who had never issued a bases loaded walk in his career, issued one earlier in the game. Again; stuff happens. We win as a team and we lose as a team. There were plenty of mistakes made. Players swinging at bad pitches, managerial choices that were extremely questionable, a walk in a spot where it had never occurred before for a reliever. Get over it!

Should Rob Thomson be fired? Maybe, but if he is, it shouldn’t be just because he came up small in Game 2. Should Orion Kerkering be thrown on the scrap heap? No. He’s a young reliever with much better days ahead of him.

It’s not just the Kerkering situation. Toronto pitcher Trey Yesavage has had his family attacked on line simply because he dominated the Yankees in a playoff game. It got to the point that he had to talk about it in his press conference prior to the ALCS. The Milwaukee Brewers flew a blue flag with a large, white “L” on it after they beat the Cubs. They were mocking the Cubs “W” flag that they fly after a win. That wasn’t a simple mistake made in the moment, that was something thought about and planned. Was it horrible? No, it wasn’t. Was it cold and in poor sportsmanship? Yes. It wasn’t just the players either. The team PR department put out an AI generated video of an even larger “L” flag covering “The Bean” in Chicago.

I’m not trying to sanitize sports or say that there is a degree of trash talking that can go on. We all do it and we have all had to take it. It just seems that in these days, the trash talking is becoming more intensely hurtful. We have social media to hide behind and that gives us what used to be called Beer Muscles.

Kudos to Orion Kerkering for standing up and talking. Kudos to his teammates for giving him a hand up rather than pushing him further down. And to those who continue to want to proverbially pull him apart limb-from-limb on social media and elsewhere; grow up.

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