One of baseball’s oldest unwritten rules is that a player (or team) should never ‘show up’ the other team when leading by a large margin. In fact doing so will, in most cases, get one (or more) of your teammates plunked by an opposing pitcher. And while some may cry foul about this violation of The Baseball Codes, it has been around for more than 125 years ago and it probably isn’t going away any time soon.

There is a very distinct difference between continuing to score runs against the other team by playing good clean hard baseball and showing them up. Such was the case in Thursday’s fourth and final game of the 2012 ALCS and game-4 of the NLCS in which the Tigers and Cardinals won handily over the Yankees and Giants by scores of 8-1 and 8-3 respectively. Not only was there no showing the other team up in either game, they were (in my opinion) exceptionally well played games that demonstrated passion and heart.

Yadier Molina stepped on the Giants throats with his 7th inning double that helped add two more runs in the Cardinals eventual 8-3 win over the Giants. (Photo credit – Mark Humphrey)

Showing the other team up includes things like showboating bat flips on a home run and stealing bases or bunting when up by 7 or more runs. Even though there is nothing written in the rule book that says you can’t do these things, they are definitely unwritten rules that you simply should not do. On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing wrong with going from first to third on a base hit (which is good hard baseball) or advancing on a wild pitch or passed ball (which are screw-ups by the other team and not of your doing).

With so much at stake these days in professional baseball, there is absolutely nothing wrong with piling on runs, something that has been long referred to as “stepping on their throats.” The ultimate goal, after all, is not only to beat the other team, but to utterly demoralize them – especially in a series of games against them. But for some unknown and unexplained reason, there are teams that seem to be completely incapable of stepping on their throats, say… like… the Dodgers for instance.

As a life-long Dodger fan, I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have witnessed the Dodgers build a sizable (6 or 7 run) lead very early in a game and then quit scoring runs. In fact, in most cases, they quit hitting all together. It’s as if they feel sorry for the other team, something that I absolutely positively guarantee you would not be reciprocated if the situations were reversed. Not only is this a sign of weakness, it flat out pisses me off to no end… and it seemingly happens to the Dodgers on a regular basis (when they can even score 6 or 7 runs, that is).

Perhaps the greatest example of quitting (I can’t think of a better word to describe it) was the painful 2010 interleague loss to the Yankees at Dodger Stadium on June 27, 2010 when exiled Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton blew a 6-2 lead in the top of the 9th inning allowing the Yankees to tie the game and eventually beating the Dodgers 8-6 in 10 innings. The Dodgers had built a 5-0 lead by the 4th inning and scored only one additional run in the 6th inning. They basically quit playing after that and phoned it in. I know this because I was there and witnessed it firsthand. It was the worst example of quitting I have ever seen.

Not only was this game a crushing blow to the Dodgers (and their fans), it was the beginning of the end of Broxton’s career as a Dodger and something that he never recovered from. Ironically, even though Broxton blew the game, he was not charged with a blown save because it wasn’t a save situation when he entered the game. Granted, Broxton has done ok as a set-up man for flamethrower Aroldis Chapman after being acquired by the Cincinnati Reds at the July 31, 2012 trade deadline, but he was never again the dominating “Iron Man” closer that he was in his early years with the Dodgers. There are countless other games in which the Dodgers quit playing after getting an early big lead, but this one stands out more so than any other in recent memory.

This is what having your throat stepped on looks like. (Photo credit – Paul Sancya)

I’m not sure that you can teach ‘stepping on their throats’ because it is not a technique or a mechanical thing, it is a mentality… an attitude. It’s that ‘killer instinct’ that you either have or you don’t. I do believe, however, that if one or two guys have it, others can and usually do pick up on it. It is contagious and good teams have it – a lot of it. Perhaps the best example would be the 2011 and even the 2012 Cardinals and (uggh) the 2012 Giants. How many times this season have you seen the Cards and Giants come back and win in the late innings even after being down by 5 or 6 runs? Or better yet, how many times have you seen them blow out their opponents by continuing to score runs the entire game? There is no quit in these guys – when they score five, six or seven runs they want two or three more runs. And when they get them, they want two or three more after that – and so on. They keep on pounding and pounding. They keep stepping on their throats and they can’t get enough of it; and both teams are in the playoffs and the Dodgers are not.

…and this is what continually stepping on their throats gets you. (Photo credit – Jonathan Daniel)

Although I can’t put my finger on a reason why, and it’s something that I have been saying for the past two years now, but I sincerely believe that the 2013 Dodgers are going to be the team to beat and could very well find themselves in the 2013 World Series (and beyond). But in order to do so, they must… absolutely must become the best throat stepper-onners the game has ever seen – something that I believe they are very capable of doing.