Or to be more accurate, how dare they pollute the sacred waters of Chase Field’s CENTER FIELD SWIMMING POOL? After clinching an NL West title that few would’ve predicted prior to Yasiel Puig’s call-up, the Dodgers celebrated Thursday’s 7-6 defeat of the Diamondbacks by invading said pool after the game, an act that may or may not have been provoked by Arizona management specifically requesting LA’s players not party on the field. Because Joe Arpaio would’ve arrested everybody? In the view of baseball etiquette expert Paola Boivin of the Arizona Republic, such acts are “bush league”.
Whatever happened to decorum? You high five, you hug, you run and dive on the star player. You don’t go to the area that is unique to the visitor’s ballpark and treat it like its your own private spa.
Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall handled it adroitly, zinging the Dodgers with just the right amount of restraint.
“I could call it disrespectful and classless,” he wrote to AZCentral’s Zach Buchanan in an email, “but they don’t have a beautiful pool at their old park and must have really wanted to see what one was like.”
The Diamondbacks’ Willie Bloomquist came back even stronger.
“I highly doubt the New York Yankees would do something like that.”
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing a game at Dodger Stadium and you’re able to contrast it with a few hours in the generic mall food court the Diamondbacks call home, I’m sure you’ll concur that “they don’t have a beautiful pool at their old park,” is not exactly the sick burn of 2013.