Rangers Pitcher Colby Lewis Writing His Own Rules

In the land of the ridiculous, Texas Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis was fuming following their 4-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. The struggling starter became irate when Blue Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus laid down a bunt with two outs and his team up 2-0 in the fifth inning. 

Lewis had this to say about the play (via MLB.com).

I told [Rasmus] I didn’t appreciate it,” Lewis said. “You’re up by two runs with two outs and you lay down a bunt. I don’t think that’s the way the game should be played.

Last time I checked, a 2-0 deficit barely halfway through the game isn’t insurmountable. Of course, Texas boasts the worst record in baseball and Lewis probably didn’t have much confidence in his offense coming back. Either way, the game should be played competively until it’s completely out of hand. Unless we are talking Germany leading the United States 2-0 in the 90th minute of a World Cup Soccer game, that’s still a competitive situation.

Lewis continued…

I felt like you have a situation where there is two outs, you’re up two runs, you have gotten a hit earlier in the game off me, we are playing the shift, and he laid down a bunt basically simply for average.

No, maybe he was trying to expand on a 2-0 lead with a two-out rally. You know…how baseball “should be played.”

[Rasmus] didn’t steal within the first two pitches to put himself in scoring position,” Lewis said. “That tells me he is solely looking out for himself, and looking out for batting average. And I didn’t appreciate it.

Maybe Rasmus didn’t attempt a steal because he has 25 stolen bases in 750-plus career games. But that’s too realistic of a reason, especially for a guy in Lewis that seems to be living in fantasy-land at this point.

The frustration is real in Texas right now, but that’s no excuse for a pitcher to call out an opponent for playing competitive baseball. Maybe if Lewis had that type of competitiveness, he wouldn’t boast a 6.37 ERA on the season.

In any event, let’s check in on reaction throughout the social media world.

Let’s just hope Lewis doesn’t take to Twitter and search his own name. The last thing we need is him whining about being tweeted about while the tears were still wet on his cheeks.

Photo: Fox Sports