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At this point, Nyjer Morgan has pretty much no credibility among Nationals fans, considering his disaster of a season and all his antics off the field. This means it's natural to dismiss him when he goes off like this after what was clearly a dirty play running over Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson on Saturday.
At the same time, if we analyze Morgan's actual points fairly, without going off prior history, he kind of has a point. Morgan's beef is that manager Jim Riggleman blasted him publicly and benched him on Sunday without actually talking to him about the issue privately. As he said before yesterday's game:
"He just basically did a Cardinal sin," Morgan said before Monday's game against the Florida Marlins. "You don't blast your player out in the paper. But it's all right."
Riggleman's response?
"As far as the incident at home plate, I have not talked to him about that. That's self-explanatory. There's not much to talk about that play."
Except ... Riggleman did find a way to talk a lot about the play to the press. Clearly, there was a lot to say about that play. Riggleman just chose to say it to the press rather than to the player directly. I completely understand any player who gets pissed off by that.
To be clear, Morgan is wrong if he really thinks he did nothing wrong on the play on Saturday. But when it comes to his point that Riggleman shouldn't be blasting him in the press without talking to him directly, he's spot on. As long as Riggleman is going to spout off about the play anyway, it should be to Morgan, not to the media.
Today's must-reads from around the SB Nation network:
- Now that Willie Mitchell is off the market, which players, if any, should the Capitals be targeting. Here are six possibilities from Japers Rink.
- Also, Japers Rink takes a look at the Southeast Division here.
- If you're like me, you're very interested in knowing what music the Nationals' players decide to play when they come up to the plate. Thankfully, Federal Baseball has compiled all the songs here.
- Hogs Haven introduces us all to Hall Davis, the Redskins' newest player.