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Woody was talking about the score/inning & has since concedeed that perhaps the game has changed in that regard. As manager in TEX he has pushed his hitters hard to get comfortable swinging 3-0. Lots of media have done a bad job understanding that and created a fake narrative. https://twitter.com/cowderpower/status/1295884286223159297
I'll give you an exact example. In 2000 we were in OAK, up 10-3 (by 7) in the 8th inning. Juan Gonzalez swung 3-0 and hit a HR. The next day Tim Hudson intentionally hit him with a pitch. We were all OK with it. We got it, it's how it was. He got his HR and they got their HBP.
The game has changed & that is good. What has bothered me in all of this is the absolute lie that Chris Woodward is some kind of Luddite manager, he is as progressive as a manager as there is in MLB. I constantly learn from him about the new ways he approaches the game.
Much of the coverage was misleading, lacked historical context and should have been better. @JoelKlatt's Twitter analogy still holds true. It's a 5-year-old soccer game, everyone sees the ball, runs over to it and starts kicking but no one really knows what's going on.
